Rise of Genesis
by Kae Aleah
Summary: (Tony/Oc)(Thor/Oc)(Steve/Oc) Fury had no choice in the matter anymore after the Tesseract was stolen. He had to strike a deal with Cain and her immortal family in order to retrieve the cube. Time is running out and Fury has to put his faith into the people who hate him the most.
1. Fourth Installment

Welcome to the fourth installment of Genesis. Please read the previous stories below if you haven't already.

**Genesis Story Order**

1\. Abel (Iron Man)

2\. Age of Living (Iron Man 2)

3\. Eldest (Thor)

4\. **Rise of Genesis** (Avengers 2012)


	2. A Deal With Humanities Firstborn

**A DEAL WITH HUMANITIES FIRSTBORN**

Do immortals have hobbies? Well, throughout the long years, Cain has had an endless list of things she's done. She's been a writer from 1830 through 1890, sold quite a few books during that time. She had been a dancer through the disco era, a time that she would rather not recall out of sheer embarrassment. Had practiced karate, jujitsu, and many other combat forms, and finally...crocheting, and it was surprisingly fun. It was the second-longest hobby she ever had before dumping it back in the 1920s. The only hobby Cain had that lasted throughout the years was people-watching. To put those skills to the test, she would occasionally take a long trip to a bar, drink and watch all the new faces go in and out. She felt like Sherlock Holmes with how much she can tell about a person by just watching them.

For instance, there was Jackie beside her, already on her fifth glass of bourbon and looking quite pale. She was young, looked to be a college student who was struggling with her classes, probably on the verge of failing. She must've come here to drink her sorrows away and kiss her dreams goodbye. One last hurrah, basically. Cain's been there one hundred times, done that one hundred times, so she can relate to her feelings.

Que trip to the bathroom to throw up in 5...4...3...2

Right as predicted, Jackie shot up from her seat and covered her mouth. She promptly pushed over her chair and took off in a mad dash to the bathroom. Cain speculated that she wasn't going to come out for at least an hour.

Moving on was...the newly-wed couple over on the other side of the counter. Josh and Bethany. Taking a wild guess...they most likely been married for only three months and Josh was already having an affair, but guess what...it was with the bartender serving the immortal lady right now. Josh and the bartender have been giving each other googly-eyes all night and Bethany is just now having her suspicions.

They'll be broken up by the end of the night.

Lastly were the pool table players behind her. A team of three guys was playing with a not-so-drunk man. Long story short, the fake drunk was hustling them and was only acting like that so the three dudes would lower their guard and not take him seriously.

Thirty minutes later, one of the guys from the party came over to the counter beside Cain and slapped down some cash. "Can we get another round of beer?" he asked, though his voice was a bit irritated because of how much money he was losing to the hustler. "Damnnit..." he cursed under his breath and looked over his shoulder at the pool table.

Cain slowly brought her glass to her lips and stopped. "You're being hustled." she suddenly spoke up with a monotone voice before tipping the drink down her throat.

The guys stiffened and looked down at Cain. "What?"

She swallowed her drink and set it back down. "I said you're being hustled, man."

He shook his head and a smile of denial fell on his face. "No, no. That guy's totally sloshed right now-"

"No, he's not. I've been here for two hours watching him and he only had one thing to drink the whole time. I'm telling you, you're being played right now." she spoke more firmly and looked him in the eyes.

The gears in his head slowly began to spin and his eyes locked on to the hustler, growing irate with every passing second "Son of a-" He ran back to the pool table in a rush and didn't even bother to take his beers with him.

Cain tipped her glass to the handless beers at the counter. "You're welcome." she goes to take another sip when a voice from behind made her stop, blood soon boiling like Mount Vesuvius.

"Why is it that every time I need to find you, you're at a bar." The voice was deep and dragged out in a way that made him sound confident and relaxed. "I recall that the first time we met was at a bar too."

"I've had better times," Cain answered back and slowly began to look over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing. "I don't know why you're here but I really don't care to know. Find someone else to bother, Fury".

Fury stood behind her with an iPad in his hand. He wore completely black clothes with a long trench coat and a gun on his side, looking to be on an official mission with the way he was dressed. "I think you're going to want to hear this, Cain." He took a seat next to her and just sat there, drowning with this suffocating silence that finally forced his words out. "What would you and Abel do...if I say I can release your little sister back to you."

**CRACK!**

Cain gripped her glass so tightly that it shattered in her hand. The alcohol spilled off the sides of the counter and the glass fragments embedded into her skin. Swiftly, she sneaked her hand under the table so it could heal away from everyone's eyes and began to flick the fragments out of her skin. All the sound soon faded away around her and her face grew more and more ominous. She spoke up but her voice was dark and raspy sounding. "If you're giving me an offer like that...then that only means you have a job for my family. You messed up...and you're not big enough to clean up whatever it was, right?"

"Unfortunately." He brought the iPad out and slid it over to her. Cain still didn't turn to face him. "You really don't need explaining with this. You're already familiar with this sort of...thing." Fury also pulled out his business card and set it right on top. "Just call me when you have your answer." Fury said nothing more and got up off the chair. He walked out of the bar faster then he arrived so Cain wouldn't have the chance to ask questions.

Cain looked back at Fury but he was already gone. She sat there for at least another three minutes before slowly looking down at the iPad, staring at it suspiciously with her heart thumping like a drum in her chest. She sighed in defeat though, grabbed the iPad and picked up all her belongings to leave. She paid for her drink and the broken glass and headed out the door into the gloomy Texas night.

The air outside was heavy with cigarette smoke from the people walking outside, bidding goodbye to their friends for the evening. Some of these drunks decided to leave their cars at the bar and just walk home, others didn't care and began to make their way over to the parking lot. Cain purposely bumped into a few on her way out and pickpocketed their keys right off them, so they wouldn't make a stupid decision that would kill them before the night was up.

Cain strolled to her car (Since she is unable to get drunk) and unlocked the door to crawl inside. The door slammed shut and silence enveloped her for a moment before looking down at the iPad sitting in her lap. Finally, Cain turned it on and a bright blue glow eradicated the darkness of her car. Her eyes grew wide with a disorder of anger and confusion once they laid upon a picture of a blue cube that was completely made of energy, something that wasn't of Earth's creation, nor by any man in the world. In just a fraction of a second, an old sensation washed through her body and she actually began to shiver.

"Hello, old friend," Cain muttered. She now understood why Fury said she was familiar with it. Cain did, in fact, had a run-in with this thing a couple of years back.

A lot of details were missing from the file about the incident, which made red flags pop up in Cain's mind. It's roughly explained that this cube was stolen a few days ago by a man who came through a portal in space, the man called Loki. The immortal lady recalled that name the moment she read it and her heart began to speed up. Loki was Thor's little brother, and it was him who sent the Destroyer to Earth to try and kill Thor, and if that man stole the cube, Cain can only guess that he plans on using it for something catastrophic, something that would truly make the world bend on one knee.

Cain cut the power off and set it back down on her lap. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply, digging her hand into her coat pocket and finally pulling out her phone. The bright screen illuminated her face in the dark while she scrolled through the large list of contacts. She stopped on Abel's number and dialed it, waiting for the buzzing to stop.

She heard a soft and sleepy voice break through the line. "Sister...?" Abel spoke softly. "It's the middle of the night... Is everything alright?"

A rare but a small smile came upon Cain's stoic mask. "I'm sorry. Were you sleeping?" Even her voice lost its sternness when she spoke to her sister. "Do you have time to talk?"

There was a distant ruffling sound on the other end that appeared like Abel was getting out of bed and walking out of the room. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Cain was at a lost for words and didn't even know where to start. It took a second but fragments of a sentence finally came through. "I think...I...I found a way to get back...our little sister." she stuttered out.

Abel was quiet on the phone for a long time, at least two minutes, but when she spoke her voice was raspy and nervous. "Sister, why do I have the feeling that I'm not going to like what we're are about to do?"

Cain turned the iPad back on and stared at the picture of the Tesseract. "I talked to Nick Fury a second ago. He was trying to recruit us for a mission, and in return...he will release her."

"What is this mission? If he's asking for our help then...he probably bit off more than he can chew."

"It might as well be their motto," Cain groaned and rubbed her tired eyes. "Fury wants us to retrieve a device called the Tesseract. And I'm telling you, Abel. This thing is not from Earth. I don't know a lot about it but...this thing even gives me the shakes. I don't like it, not one bit," she growled out her words.

Abel still didn't sound convinced. "Sister...we've seen more things then we care to remember."

There was a darkness in Cain's eyes when she glared at the picture. "Not everything," she spoke grimly. "It's from space and It's nothing but a cube of energy."

"What? Just what exactly are we getting into here?"

"I'm not exactly sure myself. You know about as much as I do right now." Cain searched her coat pockets to find her car keys. "Back in New Mexico, I met a man who wasn't from Earth. He had a brother and it was _he_ who stole the cube. His name's Loki."

"Loki?" Abel repeated the name to make sure she heard her sister correctly. "Isn't he from the Norse gods?"

"Yes. It's funny though, now that I think about it...we've only looked at a small window from Earth's perspective, but now it's different. There's so much more out there then you think." she glanced up at the stars with a longing look in her eyes. "I'm beginning to see why they need our help. I don't think we can ignore something like this."

"I'm afraid they're messing with things that shouldn't be messed with."

"SHIELD existed to meddle with other people's affairs. Either way, I think our little sister is done waiting. I'll do anything to bring this family back together, even if it means working with the people who locked her up in the first place." Cains' eyes began to darken. "No matter what. Are you alright with it?"

Abel sighed sofly. "Family above everything. I trust your judgment, Sister," she said. "Where are you right now? I can meet up with you and we can go in together."

"Got it." Cain plugged her keys in and started her car up. "I'm in Brownsville, Texas."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Welcome back to the fourth installment of Genesis, and at long last, we finally have the reveal of the baby sister!**

**I don't have much to say right now but this. I know that this series isn't nearly as popular as other stories, but to me, every person and review matter. It's what keeps me going and writing these chapters! So to all the people who had stuck with me since 'Abel'...thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I KNOW I wouldn't have made it this far without all of you!**


	3. Cain and Abel

**CAIN AND ABEL**

The last Quinjet of the day glided its large body around and landed gracefully upon the Helicarrier's landing platform. The hatch slowly slid down and Coulson walked out with the living legend himself, Captain Steve Rogers.

He was quite handsome. Blonde hair and very clear and honest blue eyes. He was tall, too, at least 6'1, and had a strong build. Steve was also abnormally young-looking for being nearly a one hundred years old man. Only because he was from a totally different era, originally living in the year of 1945 before he went down in the ice, along with the Tesseract.

Steve looked around and kept his face calm and cool, but was a little blown away with how far people had come to get to this point. Everything just looked so different to him now. Despite that though, he didn't feel uncomfortable because the atmosphere still hadn't changed at all in the time he was gone.

He then noticed an attractive woman with red hair walking up to them. Natasha Romanoff

Coulson took the liberty and introduced them. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers."

Steve gave a nod of acknowledgment. "Ma'am."

"Hi." Natasha took a glance at Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting a face trace, and they need someone to supervise the 'special' cargo," she informed him ominously.

Coulson noticeably got a bit pale. He shook his head and began to walk off the landing platform and inside the Helicarrier.

Steve cocked a brow. "Cargo?" He stared at her, confused since they both looked a bit nervous.

"You'll see it once you get settled in," Natasha explained and began to walk beside him. "There was quite a buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he asked you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?"

"They're vintage, he's proud."

They chatted for a bit but Steve couldn't help but notice a slight discomfort in the atmosphere. He looked around at all the busy faces in the crowd and saw anxiety practically bubbling in every single one of their eyes. Something was bothering them, and they only muttered it between themselves when he was out of earshot, so he didn't hear what it was. Even Coulson was nervous for some reason when Natasha mentioned something about 'special cargo'.

Honestly, it even got him a bit nervous with the way everyone was acting.

Steve and Natasha looked up and saw a Dr. Banner fumbling his way through the SHIELD employees, acting like a fish out of water. His whole appearance looked a tad bit disheveled from stress, easily recognized with the way he walked and darted his head around at the slightest bit of movement. Banner was obviously on pins and needles, being in this heavy and busy environment. It was understandable though, knowing his unique history.

"Dr. Banner," Steve called out.

Banner looked up and saw Steve strolling up to him "Oh, yeah. Hi." He shook his hand. "They told me you'd be becoming."

"Word is you can find the cube," Steve asked.

Banner looked around nervously, fiddling with his hands out of habit. "Is that the only word on me?" he hesitated.

"The only word I care about," he stated firmly.

Banner nodded his head and appreciated the answer he was given. "Must be strange for you, all of this," he gestured around at all the bustling people strapping down Quinjets and taking in cargo.

Steve shrugged his shoulders. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"Gentlemen," Natasha grabbed their attention back to her. "You may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."

There suddenly was this loud mechanical sound of something being powering up, getting louder and louder with every second. The air began to blow harsher and the soldiers quickly scrambled to get everything ready.

Steve looked around, puzzled at what was happening. "Is this a submarine?"

"Really? They want _me_ in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Banner joked.

They walked over to the edge and looked down. The water below the craft suddenly dipped downwards and two very large jet turbines started to emerge. Saltwater splashed everywhere when the propellers slowly began to pick up speed, causing a massive gust of wind to blow up and thrash their loose clothes around.

Banner grinned at the completely impossible sight. "Oh, no. This is much worse," he laughed.

* * *

They strolled through the sliding metal doors that let to the active bridge. It was full of people sitting down at computers that were laid out in multiple long rows, and in front of them was a large window that covered a whole wall length. Steve slowly wandered around the busy room and had a bewildered look plastered to his face, totally astonished. Dr. Banner on the other hand just looked nervous, since every single one of the agents was armed.

Fury stood in the back of the room with controls on each side of him. He turned around and greeted the men when they walked in. "Gentlemen," He stopped when Steve suddenly walked up to him, handed him a 10 dollar bill and walked away. Fury stared at the bill for a moment before he looked to Banner and offered his hand. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely," Banner awkwardly said. "So, uh...how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you at with that?" he asked.

Coulson spoke up. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Banner shook his head and began to devise up a plan. "You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access too?" he asked.

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know." He started to take his jacket off. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have anywhere for me to work?" he questioned.

Fury nodded but looked like he was contemplating something for a moment. "We do, but first, I would like you and Captain Rogers to follow me for a moment. I have..." He dragged his words out to find the correct way to say them. "I have a few individuals I would like you to meet. I personally asked them to help find the Tesseract and deal with Loki, if they can."

The sudden change in the air brought Steve on guard. He glanced around the whole room and noticed the multiple pairs of wondering eyes that would look away nervously. "What do you mean by 'individuals'?" his voice dropped, and Banner generally looked concerned.

Fury purposely averted eye contact and began to head over to the door. "It's a bit complicated to explain. Come on, I'll show you." he gestured with his arm.

Steve gave a worrying glimpse to Banner. The doctor shared his concern but shrugged his shoulders, reluctantly accompanying Fury out the doors.

* * *

Banner walked beside Steve while Fury let the way through the halls. "These people...Do you trust them?" He was under the assumption that SHIELD was a strong and capable organization, so seeing both Fury and Coulson acting spooked put him on edge, even more than when he first arrived.

Fury took a deep breath and seemed very hesitant to talk about them. He wasn't as alarmed as Coulson was, just deeply concerned. "I can...to some extent. I just don't think they can trust _me_. I didn't want to do this, but with the Tesseract stolen, I didn't have a choice anymore. I need their help." Fury stopped and turned to face the men. "But without a shadow of a doubt...they are the strongest ones on this vessel."

Steve felt his heart plummet straight back to the Earth. He was looking more and more alarmed by the minute. "Who are they?" he asked.

Once again, Fury didn't answer and continued to walk. "They're right down here." He turned the corner and stopped in front of the first door to his right. He opened it up, leading into a stark white room with two chairs and a table with a SHIELD file on it. "May I introduce...Cain and Abel Bamlett."

What they actually saw was not what they were anticipating. Because of Fury, their imagination ran wild, and they were expecting something like inhuman monsters, creatures, tyrants, unholy beasts capable of making all of SHIELD tremble with bottomless fear. What they actually saw where two very attractive, dainty looking girls.

One of the girls was sat down in a chair. She wore a button-up white top with a dark blue blazer, simple black pants, and heels. Her hair was light blonde, almost white, that went past her shoulders and styled with soft curls. She also has the biggest, most attractive rust-colored eyes they had ever seen that practically glittered in the bright lights of the room.

Abel was a very charming-looking woman, but what really made that possible was the smile she gave them when she lifted her head.

The other woman, Cain was standing up with her back pressed against the wall and arms crossed over her chest. Her face was set firmly in stone but was also very calm. She was attractive like Abel, but the first impression they were given was deep intimidation. Her hair was blonde and was only a few shades darker, resembling a rich honey color. Her eyes weren't a gorgeous rust-colored brown, but still a very unique. They were hazel, mostly green, but with blue and brown flecks mixed in. Her preferred style of clothing was a bit edgier/casual. She had on a black lace top, a gray cardigan under a black leather jacket, black pants, and boots.

Cain's face twisted with slight annoyance when Fury entered the room. "Fury, you sure took your time." She groaned and pushed herself off the wall. "I was beginning to wonder if you forgot about us."

Fury scoffed at her remark. "I was busy," he said and gestured behind him. "These are the ones you will be working with. Captain Steve Rogers and Dr. Bruce Banner."

Banner gave an awkward wave of his hand. He honestly felt a bit silly that this whole thing was blown out of proportion. "Hi."

Abel got up off her chair and spoke gently to him, smiling very warmly. "It's nice to meet you, really. I've seen your work and I'm extremely impressed with your capabilities."

Banner shook her hand and felt oddly relaxed around her. "Thank you," he said earnestly with a smile twitching up to the corner of his lips.

Steve walked up to Cain and introduced himself to the elegant looking lady. "Ma'am." He offered his hand out for her to shake.

"Cain," she said, grasping his hand and shaking it firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet someone like you, Captain Rogers. You have my deepest respects. " She was surprisingly a very well-spoken woman, and apparently took everyone she first meets with respect. Cain then peered over her shoulder and gestured to Abel. "This is my younger sister, Abel."

Steve looked between the two girls, and now that it was mentioned, there were some similarities between them. Abel actually resembled a younger version of Cain. Her features were soft and classical looking, while Cain's were mature and elegant. One thing that they didn't have in common though was their voices. Cain's voice was surprisingly deep and rough, her sister's being soft and smooth.

"We were told you were going to work with us?" Banner said.

Cain nodded. "We offered him our help in return for something..." She glanced at Abel and saw her sister cast her eyes somberly to the floor. "Someone that we haven't seen in over 70 years."

Steve and Banner froze in that instant and it felt like the world stopped spinning, reality soon slipping away from them. They stared at the girls over and over again to see if they missed that crucial fact. The girls looked young, Cain being around her early 30's or later '20s, and Abel maybe being 24 or 25.

Banner gave a nervous laugh, hoping that it was some kind of bad joke. "70 years? You two don't look that...old."

Cain slowly raised a brow and turned back to Fury. "I thought you would have told them before coming to meet us."

Fury gave her a look like she was crazy. "Yeah. Like that is the easiest thing to do," he said sarcastically and walked over to the table. He picked up a thick document, labeled 'Genesis'. "Gentlemen." He turned around to face the men that grew more and more concerned and confused. "What I'm about to tell you...is as classified as we can get. While it's true when they said '70 years'...that's only the tip of this...massive iceberg." He handed Steve the file. "Don't let what you're about to read leave this helicarrier," he said as firmly as he could.

Slowly and carefully, Steve opened the file and in that second, his mind went blank. Banner stood next to him and slipped on his glasses to read. There were multiple pages, at least twenty held together and organized by years that just kept on dating further and further back. There were old pictures of the girls from each timeline, some were paintings and others of actual pictures that matched the century they were in. The most recent ones were of the current century.

Silent filled the room for a good five minutes and not a single person dared to utter a word. It didn't even sound like anyone was breathing while they read the files in hand. The sound of flipping pages was the only noise there was. Gradually, their faces began to contort with a storm of emotions. First surprise, concern, confusion, then denial.

Banner's eyes widen and mouth hanging open, giving a breathy reply. "That's not possible..."

Steve handed the file over to Banner, already seeing more than enough without his head exploding, though it was starting to ache. "You've come a long way," he called out calmer then he would have expected. It was because his mind couldn't completely comprehend what he just read. Immortals, Genesis, humanity. It was too broad of a topic to swallow in only five minutes.

Cain nodded her head and crossed her arms. "So have you."

Banner must have blocked out all sound around him cause his brain was refusing to work. He looked bewildered at what he was staring at inside the girls' file. "You mentioned before...In return for your help, you would get back someone you lost roughly 70 years ago." his voice began to quiver with anticipation, skin turning a haunting shade of pale.

"Yes, that's right," Cain replied.

"And that would happen to be your..." Banner reached into the file and took out a picture, staring at it with a worried and horror-struck expression.

Cain stared Banner right in his deep brown eyes that were clearly anxious. "It's our little sister...Seth."

The picture in Banner's hand was an old one, much different than the other girls' current and modern ones. It was very blurry and he couldn't make out much of it. The only thing he could really see was the outline of a woman with her mouth hung open wide, screaming loudly.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I love you guys. I truly do. I have never been so happy to see so many familiar names just keep on popping up on the first day I posted Rise of Genesis. **

**You have no idea how hard it was for me to not mentioned anything about Seth, not even her name. I wanted the shock factor and the high tension for that last scene. But I think I teased you enough, so look forwards to Seth Bamlett in the next chapter! **


	4. The Baby Sister

**THE BABY SISTER**

It was the most soul-draining and banshee-like scream they had ever heard, and what followed were these sharp yet loud hammering noises of someone slamming their fists against what seemed like reinforced metal. The ping and painful ringing in their ears were evident to that. The voice was just filled to the brim with pure rage and hatred, giving a burst of fear that crawled up and down everyone's spines. It echoed down the halls and bounced off the walls as they got closer and closer to the source of the frightful screams.

Banner had totally gone ghostly pale at this point while following behind everyone. A while ago, he noticed that this whole section of the helicarrier had been totally isolated. More bluntly though, it was actually abandoned. Not a single soul had walked by them for a couple of minutes now. Steve was starting to grow more and more concerned with every horrific scream that ricocheted off the walls. He couldn't even keep his face calm anymore and didn't bother to hide how uncomfortable he was.

Banner opened his mouth and his voice accidentally cracked from the intense stress. "Ah...are you sure about this?" He gave an awkward shrug of his shoulders. "Because I...I don't think this is a good idea." He came by it rather honestly, which was understandable.

"I don't think we should let her out of she's not in the right state of mind," Steve said firmly to make his point made. If things don't go as planned, then everyone on board would be at risk.

"I couldn't agree with you more," Fury said and continued walking with Cain and Abel out in front. "But I made a deal with these ladies here and I really don't feel like breaking it with them." His voice was looming with worry and bitterness.

Steve groaned with frustration and rolled his eyes, the constant pounding beginning to hurt his ears since it was so loud now. "What's going on anyway?" If he can't stop it then he would rather be prepared for what was to come.

"If you must know... 73 hours ago, we shot the baby sister up with advanced sedatives purposely created for her. Afterwards, we locked her up in a reinforced steel box so we could ship her without any trouble." Fury explained, clenching his jaw tightly.

Cain's ears perked up to the prominent female screams that sounded even closer. It was loud enough to make the whole aircraft tremble. Her heart made a leap when she was starting to recognize the tone of the voice that hasn't been heard of in such a long time. "Sounds like the sedatives are wearing off."

Banner abruptly jerked away from the wall to his right when the loud banging rattled the metal. "Won't the box hold?" he asked with a shaking voice, swearing his heart was going to give out.

Cain suddenly stopped walking and turned her body around to face him. "Think about it, Dr. Banner. They're no longer regularly pumping her with advanced sedatives, which gives her the chance to burn away the rest of the drugs in her system. That's over 70 years worth of pent up rage." She then began to speak ominously. "There's no way that box is going to hold her."

Abel sighed deeply and could feel the floor below her rattle with every hard thud. "Seth is a bit...difficult to deal with, personality-wise. Between the three of us, she's a lot more prone to losing her temper."

"Well, that's comforting," Steve said sarcastically.

They continued to walk till they reached the end of the hall where a pair of double doors waited, only to be unlocked with a retina scan. Even the doors were reinforced to not let whatever was inside out.

"Now...before we go in," Cain began. "For a matter of safety, do not drift from each other and do not stray from us. I'm not entirely sure how Seth will react once she is free." she gave her final warning and looked at Fury. "Open it. Now."

That was an order Fury was reluctant to do, but he knew if he didn't open that door right now...then she would do it herself. He finally leaned into the scanner and a green glow hovered over his eye. The lock clicked and the door slowly slid open. It was like one of the seven gates of hell being unlocked.

The inside of the room was large, circular, and empty, making the screams more prominent sounding. It sounded inhuman, a mix between a woman's voice and a creature of eternity. The horrid wailing ranged from a cry of sorrow to pure and honest rage, all coming from a 9-foot tall box in the center of the room. The front of the reinforced door was covered in dents in the shape of small fists, and with every cry of anger, a new one was made.

Just the sheer sound and force of the scream made all the hot blood drain from Steve's body. He felt oddly cold, not as if the scream was totally anger-filled...but just plain sad. It was desperate, dire, remorseful. He didn't know what Seth looked like, but for a reason, he could imagine a small and frightened child behind the door, pounding to be set free.

Abel, on the other hand, looked horrified. "Good God," she uttered, never hearing such a voice come from her little sister's lungs before. It made her absolutely shiver, wishing to plug her ears so she wouldn't have to hear that sound ever again. Still, at this point in time, the sound was already engraved into her memory. "Sister..." she began and felt Cain's comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know," Cain said in a gravelly voice, feeling her heart squeeze with anxiety.

An unwanted silence then suddenly filled the room like a plague lying in wait to wreck havoc. Abel gave Cain a confused and troubled look before there was one last scream of bottomless wrath. It then sounded like someone used their whole body and rammed it hard against the door with all their might. The door abruptly burst off its hinges at a break-neck speed and hurled right towards the crowd.

"Get down!" Cain's screeched before she dove to the side, the door flying right over her head. "Abel!"

Abel pushed herself, Steve and Dr. Banner out of the way and used her leg to shove Fury to the side. They all fell to the floor and just bearly missed the door that soared right by them. It struck the wall and pinned itself there, totally stuck.

Banner felt like he was having a heart-attack and Steve looked slightly disoriented by the near-death experience that only lasted for like a fraction of a second. The door busted off its hinges way to fast for him to see, and without Abel being there, he surely would have been decapitated without ever knowing what happened or what hit him.

Abel looked up from the ground...and all the air evaporated from her lungs at what she saw stumble out of the box and onto the floor. It was a woman, hunched over on the ground with a wavy mess of caramel-colored blonde hair that covered her face, hiding her features from view. Her skin tone should be pale for being locked up after all these years, but instead, it was a healthy flushed pink color. She was also shorter than her sisters, probably standing at the height of 5'2, and with a petite build. Her clothes were old and out of date, too. A gray top, simple light blue sweat pants, and no shoes at all.

Abel got back to her feet but did so very slowly to not set her sister off. "Seth...?" she called out but she didn't respond. Abel began to slowly approach her with her hands up to not show hostility.

Seth moves were very jerky and she even seemed to snarl. She backed up towards the box but not going as far as to go back into it, trapping herself between it and Abel who was slowly getting closer.

"Seth...Hey." Abel was cautious and spoke as smoothly as she could.

She was close enough to finally see Seth's eyes, something she had missed looking at for a very long time. Her eyes looked like they were made of the most luxurious gems in the world. So clear, glittering, and with enough alluring mischief that could make anyone's heart squeeze with excitement.

Abel's eyes were the most beautiful brown color...but Seth's electric blue ones totally outshined them.

Abel could feel her heart speed up with her final step towards her sister. "Hey..." she said and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

Seth roughly withdrew from the strange and soft touch, her eyes growing ballistic and deranged in a fraction of a second. Suddenly, she grabbed Abel by her arm, twisted her body around and threw her older sister all the way across the room. Abel's body slammed hard against the wall and she slumped down to the floor.

It about knocked all the air out of her and she struggled to get her words out quick enough. "Se...Seth's unhinged!" she shouted out frantically and watched in terror as her mad sister charged at the stunned men. "Intercept her!"

Steve grabbed the back of Banner's blazer and was about to push him out of the way but Seth was quickly intercepted by Cain and tackled to the floor. The small woman screeched like a banshee at the top of her lungs, vibrating the whole craft while trying to get out of Cain's iron grasp, but this was one hold she could never break free from. Cain trapped her in a tight hold and whispered soft Hebrew into her ear. It took a few seconds but she slowly began to relax and didn't struggle so much. Seth's body clenched up when that familiar raspy voice finally broke through the rage and sorrow of her distorted mind.

It's been so long since she heard Cain's voice, but never in her whole life would she ever forget the way it sounded, her source of comfort and strength.

"Ah...uh..." Seth's voice cracked, rough and dried up from screaming so much. Her lips tremble and she slowly sank down into her sister's embrace, tears finally falling.

Cain dropped her head into Seth's shoulder and felt as if her soul had been released from the 70 years worth of anxiety. The most stressful thing in her life had finally ended and her family was complete once more. "Abe-" She stopped and looked up at Abel walking over to them, tears streaming down from her brown eyes too. "Why are you crying?"

"How could I not?" Abel dropped to her knees and tugged on Seth, wrapped her arms tightly around her little body.

The woman pounding on the door a moment ago was now embracing her sisters like a frightened child that just found her parents. It gave Banner a bit of comfort to know that Seth wasn't acting up, and Steve was just relieved that it ended without much of a fight.

Seth just sat there, wailing like a child who had just been reunited with her lost family. This is what Steve thought when he heard the scream from behind that reinforced box and this is what he was witnessing right now.

They watched in silence when Seth peeked her head up slightly and looked straight towards them. She had the same eyes as Cain and Abel, just slightly different. She had the years and experience...but was riddled with much more wild emotions.

* * *

They moved to a different room, one that was definitely bigger than the box. It was just a simple bedroom and a private bathroom to the right, which is where Abel was in right now getting a bath ready for her little sister.

Seth may have calmed down considerably after the whole near-death experience they all had with her, but she was still acting like a wounded animal. Utterly silent to everyone around her, even her own sisters.

Cain stood outside of the room and was studying her sister through the one-way window. She could hardly recognize Seth in this feral state. Her appearance was absolutely haggard. The clothes she wore looked like they were once white, now aged to a dark and dingy gray. Her nails looked short but she chewed on them to keep them that way. Hair long and ratty, a complete unmanageable mess. Cain even noticed that there was dried blood in it too.

Banner stared at Seth through the window. "She looks so young," he muttered under his breath.

"I know," Cain stood beside Banner. "She stopped aging at 21, millions of years ago." She sighed deeply, staring at Seth's petite figure curled up in a mountain of blankets on the bed. "Sometimes even I forget how old she actually is when she looks like this."

That is what was bothering Steve when he heard her screams. He thought her voice sounded young. Looking at her now though, he understood why. His jaw tightened and he snapped his head over to Fury standing behind them. "What did she do?" he asked rather harshly, catching Banner and Cain's attention.

Fury blinked, a bit taken aback by his tone. "What?" he asked again, making sure he heard him right.

"She must have done something to get locked up for all those years. What did she do?" he demanded

Fury shook his head. "It's not as simple as you-" Cain cut him off.

"Then make it simple." Her voice cut in deep. For 70 years, Cain and Abel had been in the dark about the truth of her sister's disappearance and was wanting answers just as much as Steve did.

Fury bit down on his lips and said nothing, letting the silence in the hallway drag out.

"Well?" Banner said, waiting.

Cain stared at Fury in his one good eye until he averted his gaze from her, telling the eldest immortal everything she needed in the one split second he did so. "He's not fessing up because Seth never did anything to begin with." She scoffed at the realization.

Steve's eyes went wide. "What?" he exclaimed.

"I've known Seth ever since she was born on a harsh winter day." Cain began and dropped her head into her hands, breathing deeply from her evergrowing annoyance. "I practically raised her myself. She would never do anything without a good reason why." She looked up through her fingers, eyes sharpening into a harsh stare. "So...Fury. What happened?"

Fury clamped down on his words but found everyone's eyes on him, waiting to finally hear the whole truth about Seth's imprisonment and what happened, leaving him with no choice anymore. "It was over 70 years ago when the first report of her appearance was made. A few years before there was a Captain America." He quickly gestured to Steve. "It said that an unknown and unstoppable force waltzed onto the enemy's side and ripped right through HYDRA's defenses, practically knocking them back to the stone age when the war was only just beginning. In the report, they dubbed her...the '_Little Monster_'. The Allied Force didn't know what to think about the...problem, but they somehow managed to capture and subdue her. That was back in 1939. Afterwords...SHIELD was slowly built around the idea that...somethings were not as they appeared to be. All starting with Seth."

Cain was quiet for a bit, remembering the year. "1939...It was around that time we lost all contact with Seth." She bit down on her curled up lips."So that's what happened. She must of went to Germany to try and stop HYDRA herself...only to go missing in the process." Her fingers clenched tightly on the fabric of her sleeve, trying her best to not lose her head and go off the deep end.

Steve had to take a couple of seconds to process all his old and dusty memories. He could easily remember HYDRA though, and how destructive they were when he fought them. "So you're saying if Seth hadn't gotten involved at the beginning...HYDRA would have been a lot more advanced?" He took a sharp breath and looked at Fury, disappointment and disgust rising up in his honest eyes. "You had no right to do that to her. She did nothing wrong."

Fury only looked at Steve like he was crazy. "I'm sorry, but how would you feel if an unknown, seemingly unstable and destructive immortal walked right into your crosshairs? We didn't know what to think of her," he tried to defend himself but Steve only shook his head.

"And your first reaction was to lock her up for 70 years. After all she did for us?" He couldn't help his own blood from boiling at the inhumane way they treated Seth. Looking at her feral state right now only made his heart ache. Steve couldn't even dream what they might've done to her during that time in captivity. "How I look at it...we would have lost if she didn't step in and help."

"That was 70 years ago," Fury clenched his jaw tightly and his voice was deep. "And I wasn't the one to make the decision."

Banner could sense the swelling tension in the room and it was beginning to make him nervous. He feared that he would bee seeing shades of green if this kept up. "What I want to know is how SHIELD managed to capture her? Cause aren't you guys suppose to be 'unstoppable' forces?" He looked to Cain for answers.

"That's not entirely true." She suddenly said and even caught Steve off guard. "We all have our limits. In reality, our strength and rebound time differ because of our ages."

"What's rebound time?" Banner asked.

"It's how long we stay dead. Between the three of us, my strength is the greatest and my rebound time is the shortest. Only lasting one minute. Then there's Abel with two minutes, and finally Seth with three whole minutes. Seth is strong but she is still the weakest of all us, which is why she got caught."

Steve lowered his head. "So that's how it happened," he said and the Director of SHIELD only averted his gaze.

Cain gently placed her hand on the window and never took her eyes away from Seth. "Excuse me," she said and quickly excused herself from the conversation that was only making her mood worse.

She walked back into the bedroom where Seth was, curled up on the farthest corner of the mattress and wrapped up in thick blankets. Cain spoke up and managed to talk very softly to Seth, in a way to not frighten the poor girl. "Abel's getting a bath ready for you right now. She's going to trim your hair while she's at it, too. Is that alright?" She waited for her sister's reply, wanting to her charming voice once more.

Seth kept her electric blue eyes forward and only nodded her head in response, still not uttering a single word.

Suddenly the door slid open and Cain could hear Seth's heartbeat skyrocket. Seth's eyes darted to the door and Cain saw Steve walked in, carrying a glass of water in his hand.

Steve hesitated when he saw Seth go on the defense, clearly clenching her fists tightly underneath the blankets, waiting for the opportunity to pounce on him if he made the wrong move. He couldn't help to notice that her eyes totally looked animalistic. Steve took a glance at Cain. "I thought I would bring her water," he asks softly.

If it was anyone else, then she wouldn't trust them. Cain could tell that Steve didn't do anything to the glass, and it was clearly just ordinary water. She sighed with contentment and looked back to Seth, speaking in Hebrew for her.

Seth listened in her cacoon of silence before darting her head back to Steve, staring at him with her wild and skeptical eyes. She began to slowly reach her hands out from her blanket and towards the glass. Steve said nothing and gently handed it over to her, noticing how much the water was shaking because of her trembling hands. Seth sunk right back into her covers but didn't drink the water just yet. She watched as Steve turned his back towards her and she tilted her head. "As...yu...ah, uh..." she suddenly said, her dry voice cracking like glass.

Steve halted and looked back at Seth when he heard her trying to speak to him. "Did you say something?" he asked eagerly.

She tilted her head to the side and merely only stared at Steve for a couple of seconds, studying him in her silence. Seth finally took the cup of water and drank it, pulling her head all the way back and swallowing every last drop until the glass was totally empty.

Even Cain was curious about what Seth was trying to say and listened in closely.

Seth cleared her throat a couple of times and lifted her hand, gesturing him to come closer, in which he did, getting a clear few of her electric eyes. She leaned in close so he could hear and finally spoke her first real words in over 70 years. "I said you had a nice ass."

It was like time had stopped and reality became warped. Steve...was not expecting that at all, not even remotely close. His mouth dropped open and he couldn't say anything, his throat was so dry. He watched as a large and mischievous grin stretch to her lips before Seth let out this most light-hearted laugh he had ever heard.

It was only seven words and Cain was already starting to feel the exhaustion that came with having to deal with Seth. That woman just natural had a talent of draining people of energy with her blunt and flirty statements. Still, what was Cain expecting? "Seth..." She ran her hand through her hair and dropped her head.

Abel finally came out of the bathroom. The sound of running water came from behind her and steam escaped through the open door. She then frowned when she saw Cain's tired expression, Steve's shocked state, and Seth grinning ear to ear. "Ah, uh... Seth? Come on." She would rather not ask and get started with grooming her sister back to normal. "I got scissors to cut your hair and extra clothes in your size.."

Seth nodded slowly and got up, dropping the blankets and disappearing into the bathroom with her sister.

Steve had to step back and think over what Seth just said to him. He could finally get his words out and a weak laugh escaped from his lips. "Well...she's definitely a character."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I have to say I'm sorry. My internets down at my house right now, so I'm having to edit this chapter on mobile, which is very hard! It might not be the best...but I'll edit it better once I'm back online.**

**Seth's screaming and her break out from the box was actually inspired by Teen Titans episode 62, when Starfire broke out from her imprisonment. Just a little fun fact for you.**

**I hope you're ready for a lot of flirting on Seth's part. ****She is actually my favorite one to make dialogue for, so I hope you'll enjoy her. Anyway though, s****o now you know the reason why I didn't do the first Captain America movie. Seth was already imprisoned a few years before Steve became who he is today. We'll get more backstory about that day as Genesis continues. We got a lot of things to cover in this story though.**

**Side note: I also imagine Seth to look something like Imogen Poots. I usually have models when imagining my character, all in which you can find on my profile for everyone I use.**


	5. Eternally Family Until The Bitter End

**ETERNALLY FAMILY UNTIL THE END OF DAYS**

It was the most dreadful thing the immortal family had to deal with...Seth's unruly hair. It was naturally very wavy and a bit curly as well, an unmanageable mess that took at least 30 minutes each day to try and tame it to a presentable state. It didn't take much to get it tangled though. Just slightly touching it would make your fingers get stuck. It was the main reason why Abel was gone for so long, trapped in the bathroom with Seth and trying to brush out her hair, trim and style it as well.

Seth about had enough of it too. Being stuck in a small bathroom was beginning to make her claustrophobia spark up. "Knock it off, will ya?" She tried to fight back with Abel who was still trying to style it, even though they were now walking through the halls to get back to the bridge. "It's fine the way it is."

Abel also managed to find some clothes in Seth's size, really anything that didn't have the SHIELD logo on it. It was a button-up black top with long sleeves tucked into thigh-length jean shorts, and black steel toe boots.

Everyone on the bridge turned to the door when it slid open and the two sisters walked through, still squabbling with each other. Cain let out a small chuckle at the sight of their bickering, a thing they had done many times in the past, this being the first in over 70 years.

"Quit it." Seth swatted Abel's hands away for what felt like the third time. "God, you do this every time. Treating me like a doll to dress up." She knew Abel just loved dressing her up in cute clothes and styling her hair. The Victorian age was torturous because of that fact.

Seth walked into view of everyone and Steve had to take a moment to process if she actually was the same woman from the box. The young girl who had been screaming, crying, and all while being an absolute animal a couple of hours ago. She hardly looked anything like her other sisters but she still had this unique grace and maturity that came from the family genes. Her hair was actually a lovely caramel color that matched well with her flushed pink skin. It was naturally very messy looking but that was her charm, all pulled back into a loose strand ponytail. Her eyes resemble priceless jewels though, a beautiful electric blue that gave her a very cute, doll-like appearance. Put a victorian dress on her then it would look like she belonged in that era, from the round face, pointy nose, and mature and graceful appeal.

She didn't resemble her sisters, but her beautiful looks were her own. And in Steve's eyes...she was just that.

Banner too, looked blown away. "She looks like a totally different person," he said.

"I feel like a different person, too" Seth's voice was very rich sounding to their ears but also a tad bit deep as well, a strange combo between Cain and Abel's voices. In the hours she was gone, it had greatly recovered in the steam-filled bathroom when she was getting ready. "So...what's going on?" she said and crossed her arms over her chest, directing her eyes to Fury.

Fury had been waiting around this whole time with a report file ready for her to read. "Now that we all settled down...let's get down to the matter at hand," he began and tossed the file across the table in front of Seth.

A huge amount of suspicion cross Seth's face the moment she picked it up, not bothering to hide the fact that she was very hesitant to even read what was inside. She already knew that something wasn't right. Something had gotten all of SHIELD shaken, and it wasn't the fact of her and her sisters being here. Slowly, she opened it up and saw the picture of a man paperclipped to the file. She stayed quiet as her eyes scanned over the words. She felt her heart slowly began to drop and her body grows cold with every single word she read.

"We need your family's help." Fury sighed with defeat, never wanting to come to this point of asking for _their_ help, of all families.

Seth's mouth became dry and she lifted her head back up, staring at Fury with wide eyes. Her words then fell from her mouth with no hesitation or remorse at all. "No." she blurted out.

Her words stunned the whole bridge into a state of utter silence. Even Cain and Abel were surprised by the sudden act of denial, despite the obvious threat the world was under right now. Seth just stone-cold rejected everything with little to no hesitation at all.

Seth began to walk out of the room when Steve got up from his chair abruptly and grabbed her forearm to stop her. "Wait," he said and held her in place.

Seth tightened her jaw and glanced down at her forearm, then up at him. "You wanna get your hand off me? Before I cave in your pretty face." She never broke eye contact with him, her voice dropping to this chilling and threatening tone that could freeze hell over.

"Just wait for a second," Steve tried to convince her.

"Wait? You want me to play nice with these guys? They unjustly locked me up for 70 years, screwed up and now they want my help? Do you seriously think all is forgiven?" Her whole face scrunched up into disgust and she yanked herself free. "Sorry...but I'm not a decent person like my sisters."

He understood where she was coming from but he was still surprised that she wasn't going to help them. "The cube is dangerous in Loki's hands."

"When did that become my problem?"

Cain's voice was calm and deeply controlled. She didn't sound frustrated, just strongly concerned for her sisters, as well as the world. "Seth, this isn't something we can so easily ignore."

Abel chimed in. "We made a promise, too."

Seth's eyes went mad at that and she began to raise her voice at her own sisters. "That's the thing! You guys did, I didn't!"

Shock crossed Abel's face. "Seth!"

"Don't 'Seth' me!" she cut in. "Why can't you understand why I'm against this? For 70 years, I have been drugged and kept in the dark. Can you even begin to understand why...I'm not eager to help them out." she was so angry and upset that her voice was starting to crack.

Abel looked to hesitate for a bit and toned down on her words. "I may not know what you've been through but..."

"That's right." Seth's words were harsh and venomous. "You don't."

Abel immediately became dejected and shrunk away from the confrontation, Cain could see that clearly. Its always been like that, Seth has always been hard to keep in place and Abel had never had a strong enough voice to discipline her. It's always been Cain who did it. "Seth, we can hear you just fine and we _are_ listening to every word," Cain began. "I know how frustrated you are right now but for just a minute, can you please listen to your older sister."

Seth bit down on her lips when Cain began to speak. She finally calmed down a bit to listen and turned fully to face her. "What?"

"Abel had nothing to do with this. Fury offered me a deal." Cain looked away for a moment and sighed deeply with hesitation. "...and I took it."

The look on Seth's face was that of utter betrayal and it broke Cain's heart to have to say those words, knowing full well that it would break both of them.

Seth had to take a moment to breathe. "Am I hearing you right or have I really gone crazy. You of all people?" Her eyes were wide and her voice began to tremble with deeply embedded anger that her small and old body could no longer contain. Her voice roared out loud enough to rattle the whole bridge. "Why!"

"It's because we're all we have left!" Cain's voice only cried out louder, eyes looking utterly crushed. It was so loud that the whole bridge stopped what they were doing to stare. "I never stopped looking for you. I tore the whole...planet apart but I still couldn't find you." She clenched her hands into fists and her voice trembled, not with anger but with regret. "You weren't the only one who was suffering. Every day felt like I was drowning in anxiety because I didn't know where you were or what they were doing to you. So when Fury offered me a deal...I didn't hesitate to take it because I was that desperate to get you back, and you know that there is nothing...I wouldn't do for this family."

Seth slowly sat down on a chair and was stunned into total silence. Abel too looked surprised.

It was beyond rare to hear Cain's voice tremble like that. Seth could recall one time, only one single time had she heard her elder sisters' voice become this way. So broken, desperate, and scared. It was especially strange that she would break down in front of total strangers...but that only told her how frustrated and vulnerable she really was during the past 70 years she had been gone.

Cain took a deep breath and used her cold hands to rub her burning hot face, in an attempt to calm herself down. "Time will...inevitably tell us how the world will end. When the oceans dry up, and the trees stop growing. We can delay it for as long as we can...but not forever. We know that already. So when that happens and humanity parishes...the only thing we will have in the end will be each other. Just us, the three of us standing in this room right now. It will be us...facing eternity." She dropped her hands and stared down at Seth, the beginnings of exhaustion flushing into her eyes like a dam, moments away from breaking. "Do you understand now? Why I did what I did?"

In that silent moment, the earth might as well have stopped spinning to listen in to the elder sister's words, her priorities, her reasoning to have done so many ungodly things in the past to get to this point in time. This was the one and only reason she continues to walk forwards, despite the cruelty the world will throw at her in the future.

Cain has sacrificed everything, even her own happiness...to make sure her sisters were safe.

That was her reason.

That was the _only_ reason why she could continue to keep a strong and confident appearance.

She was doing it for them...

Seth's lips trembled and she cast her gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry." her voice cracked out a simple apology...but it was enough to ease the rising stress and grief in Cain's eyes.

Cain's lips turned up into a smile. She reached down and patted Seth on the shoulder a few times before trapping in her a tight and strong embrace. "Same here," she whispered and dropped her head into Seth's shoulder.

Seth's heart was beating out of control but slowly began to calm down to a steady and peaceful thump.

Fury gathered up the file before speaking up. "If it makes you feel any better...you'll get to punch a god in the face."

That definitely piqued Seth's curiosity and made her lift her head. "I'm listening."

* * *

Abel went with Dr. Banner to set up a tracking algorithm to look for the Tesseract, and in the meantime, Cain and Seth were sitting on the bridge with the rest of the team. The sisters were only biding their time till the face trace for Loki was complete. Cain sat in her usual concentrated silence and was looking through some old records, and Seth was studying and playing with Cain's iPhone, obviously very intrigued by it.

Cain looked up from the words storm that was in the records and saw Seth's eyes set firmly on Steve standing across the room with Coulson. "Why do you keep staring at him? You fancy him or something?"

Seth scoffed and looked back to Cain's phone, scrolling through the news feed. "You know me, sister. I just like teasing everyone I meet. I will admit it though...he is one good-looking man."

A small smile fell to Cain's lips. "I kinda missed this side of you."

"What side?" Seth blinked.

"You really think I'm that oblivious? You playfully, harmlessly flirt with a lot of men, not taking anything seriously, but...you stare extra long at the guys you do like." She saw Seth's lips turn downwards into a frown.

She purposely swerved her chair so her sister wouldn't see her face. "What about you guys? Did you two find anyone to cling onto?" She peeked up from her eyelashes and saw something very unusual cross Cain's face...hesitation. "What the..." Seth mutter. "Don't tell me you've been fondueing?" The biggest grin then suddenly stretched to Seth's face.

"For one, no one says...'_fondueing_' anymore."

"What? You want me to say sex?" Seth blurted out rather loudly and got Steve and Coulson's attention on them, eyebrows furrowed in confusion at what they were talking about.

Cain moved her hand up to cover one side of her face so no one would see. "You know...I'd rather you say fonduing." She said quietly.

"Aw, sis, is your face red now?" Seth teased.

"Shut up, Seth." Cain moved around in her chair and had her back to everyone so they wouldn't look anymore.

Seth gave the cheekiest smile before it slowly fell back into a frown. She glanced up from Cain's phone and over to Steve, still casually talking to Coulson about trading cards. She couldn't help but think back to when he grabbed her, leading up to Seth threatening him rather crudely, and she wasn't proud of that.

She groaned deeply and stoop up from her chair and wandered over to him, just getting to the point of Coulson wanting Steve so sign his Captain America trading cards. "Hey," she said and tapped his shoulder.

Steve looked a bit puzzled when he turned around and saw Seth's small frame standing before him. "Something you need?"

"I, uh..." She reached to the back of her head and ran her fingers through her hair, avoiding eye contact for a second in her hesitation. "I just wanna say I'm sorry for what I said to you, about caving in your face. Just to let you know, I actually wasn't going to do anything like that." she tried to apologize and use humor to smooth over what she had said, an old habit she had grained.

Steve listened for a moment and could understand where she was coming from, actually appreciating her attempt. "It's alright. I understand your frustration with them, so I didn't take it personally. I shouldn't have grabbed you."

"Ah, don't worry about that." Seth waved it off. "I kinda needed that. I get that I can be a bit uncooperative at times though."

"Still," he smiled and spoke sincerely. "I'm glad you working with us."

"I ain't doing it for them," Seth's lips turned up into a smirk, gesturing with her thumb to Cain behind her. "I just have my priorities."

Steve might not know of Seth that much. She was a bit crude with her words, honest to a fault, and says things that were completely unnecessary...but she really was willing to do anything for her family, and he could respect that. Seth may not act like it a lot of the time but he can see in her eyes that she truly respected her sisters, especially Cain.

Steve and Seth turned their attention away from each other when one of the monitors suddenly began to go off. "We got a hit. A 67% match," someone called out at one of the computers. "Wait. Crossmatch, 79%."

Seth walked over to the computer and looked at the picture on the monitor. It was practically the spitting image of Loki. "Is this guy even hiding?" She lifted a brow.

Coulson strolled up to them. "Location?"

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigastrasse." The saw a sidelight map on the screen.

"Captain," Fury called out to Steve. "You and the girl are up."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Guess who's gonna be punching a god in the face pretty soon~**

**You gotta understand where's Seth's coming from, right? She has her reasons and I understand why she would be mad, especially upset that Cain took a deal like that. But Cain had her reasons too, after everything she had done for her family...which is why I think she's a great sister. Let me tell you though, it's hard writing Cain like that...like she's moments away from breaking. Poor girl. **

**And I hope you liked Seth's bluntness with the 'Foundueing'. I thought it was a fun throwback from Captain America: The First Avenger. Tells you how behind she is on slang. I love Cain and Seth's relationship. The perfect older sister adoring her little sister but being annoyed with her at the same time, especially having Seth play with Cain's phone. **


	6. Loki

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**

**GENESIS WILL BE ON HOLD FOR A BIT. NOT FOR LONG THOUGH. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE A LOT ON MY PLATE RIGHT NOW AND I DON'T WANT TO OVERLOAD MYSELF AND RUSH BAD CHAPTERS OUT JUST FOR THE SAKE OF TIME. I WANT TO KEEP THE QUALITY AS BEST AS I CAN! I'M STILL GOING TO WORK ON GENESIS DURING THE DURATION OF MY ABSENCE BUT TRY AND TAKE MY TIME TO MAKE IT GOOD.**

**I'LL BE BACK ON THE 1ST OF DECEMBER.**

* * *

**LOKI**

Chaos ensured on a dark night in Germany. People ran from the museum halls, screaming, crying, and pushing each other aside as they tried to escape to the streets. Loki walked out of the building with his glowing blue scepter in hand. He intercepted the crowd of hysterical people by using three holograms of himself, cutting them off from escaping.

"I said..." Loki slammed his scepter into the ground and it gave off a bright blue glow that completely blinded them. "Kneel!" The crowd froze in place like a deer facing an oncoming car. Hesitating at first, they all soon got down on one knee, not knowing what this power-hungry man would've done to them if they didn't. The look on his face was absolutely demented. "Is this not simpler?" His grin was absolutely mocking towards the lowly species. "Is not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble or power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

Old eyes saw more than what was being said in front of him, and in that single moment of bravery and stubbornness... humankind's true self came gushing through the fear that consumed the crowd. A single elderly man stood up and stared at the god before him with only pity in his eyes. "Not to men like you," he said firmly.

The god laughed a bit at this man's foolishness. So weak, feeble, and trembling. "There are no men like me."

The man's eyes may be worn out and old but still had a great deal of fire burning in his pupils, a kind of flame that not even a god could snuff out. "There are always men like you."

Loki raised his scepter. "Look to your elders, people." It began to make a vibrating sound as the gem in the center started to glow brighter and brighter. "Let him be an example."

A flash of blue energy shot out of the scepter and fired at the stunned old man who remained paralyzed. His vision wasn't filled with just blue though, but a blur of red, white and blue. A shield intercepted the blast of energy and reflected the shot right back at Loki, knocking the mighty god to this cold ground with the rest of the people.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everyone else," The shield in Steve's hand steamed off smoke as he walked through the crowds towards the collapsed god. "We ended up disagreeing." He was now dressed in a form-fitting red, white, and blue suit that bore a resemblance to his 70 year old one.

Loki propped himself up with his scepter. "The soldier." he snickered and stood tall. "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

Cain, at the wheel of the Quinjet, hovered it right behind Captain America. Abel and Seth stood behind their elder sister and looked out the window. Abel glanced down at Cain and noticed that quite a harsh and troubled look move to her face. It was an unusual sight coming from her, really. So something about this god was bothering her, obviously.

Natasha pulled a lever, dropping the gun that was stationed below the Quinjet and took aim at Loki. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," she warned him.

Loki launched another blast of energy at the Quinjet but Cain was able to avoid the deadly strike by weaving the jet to the side.

The captain threw his shield at Loki and it struck hard against his chest. Steve caught his shield once more and ran at him, throwing a punch right into his face. Loki barely even budged from his spot and clashed his scepter against the indestructible shield before thrusting it into the captain's stomach, knocking him back a few feet.

Loki jabbed the scepter against Steve's head and growled out his venomous words. "Kneel."

The Captain threw the end aside. "Not today." He jumped up and kicked him across the face.

Abel worryingly stared down at the fight. "This isn't looking good. Should we go down there?" she asked, looking down at her elder sister.

Cain managed to keep a rather calm and expressionless mask on her face. "All three of us going down there would be overkill," she said, plain and simple. Cain bit the inside of her cheek and looked a tad bit uncertain. Sighing heavily, she glanced over her shoulder. "Seth, I'm leaving this to you."

Seth leaned against the pilot's chair and raised a brow, wanting to make sure she got Cain's permission before doing anything. "Get the god?"

"Yeah," Cain confirmed by nodding her head.

Seth shrugged her shoulders and turned around. "Alright." She walked over to the hatch and slapped the big red button on the side, getting ready with a smile widening to her lips.

Loki roughly tossed Steve aside and lifted his scepter, it starting to glow with growing power from the gem inside, but the sound of the jet's engine roaring louder stopped him in his tracks. Loki looked up and saw the Quinjet slowly maneuver itself around as the hatch on the back slid down. Seth walked up to the very edge and snapped her eyes down towards him, a look being totally animalistic from excitement. She arched down and gripped the frame tightly under her small hands, her smile dissipating and eyes sharpening to set in on her target. Pushing off her right foot with all her might, Seth launched herself downwards at a high, sonic-like speed that was way to fast for Steve to witness in full. Her talon-like hands grasped ahold of Loki's thin neck in the downfall and they both were body slammed into the ground. The floor at everyone's feet vibrated from the impact and the concreate below the two shattered like brittle gram crackers. Seth pulled her hand from the god's neck and stood up, the stone dust soon clearing away.

She'll admit that it wasn't her most elegant landing, then again, she had never been good at things like that. Cain and Abel were always the graceful ones when they fought, while Seth always had a ruthless style. "Well...that was mildly disappointing," she said dryly and glanced up, seeing Steve looking at her slack-jawed. He was stunned but also in a state of awe at what he just witness, seeing one of the immortal sisters fight first-hand. "You alright, Cap'n?" Seth called out.

Steve gave a slight nod, taken aback by her lighthearted and casual tone after just smashing a man into the ground. "Yeah...I appreciate the help, Seth."

The corner of her mouth twitched upwards and she moved off the fallen man, nonchalantly walking over to Steve. "Hey, I'm just as surprised as you. Never thought I'd see that day that I'd power slam a god into the ground." Her smirk was soon replaced with a frown when the sound of shifting concrete caught her attention. Seth slowly looked over her shoulder and saw Loki groaning as he gradually got up. The lady scoffed, a bit amused by the sight. "10 points. You're tougher then you look."

Loki grinned his teeth and glared intensely at the girl. "You little wench." He raised his scepter and pointed it at her as it began to glow and vibrate dangerously.

A sharp gasp escaped Abel's throat and her heart suddenly skyrocketed right out of her chest when she saw her little sister standing at the edge of the dangerous weapon. "Will she be able to handle that?" She looked over to the hatch and was about to take a step in an attempt to jump and save Seth when a voice suddenly came over the system and she stopped.

"Hey, sweetheart. Did you miss me?" It was a voice so rich with sarcasm that just the tone alone made Abel's heart absolutely melt, a content smile falling to her pink lips.

Shoot to Thrill began to blast over the speakers as the PA system became overridden. A burning hot light began to radiate from the darkness of the sky as Iron Man flew around the buildings at a high speed. He launched a repulsor blast at Loki and knocked him back. Tony made a sturdy landing on the ground and stood between Seth and Loki. He rose and lifted his arms up, hidden missiles popping out of his arms and shoulder pads.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Tony warned him.

Loki silently looked between who he was up against and slowly held his arms up in defeat.

The weapons where lowered. "Good move."

The captain placed his shield back on his arm. "Mr. Stark," he greeted.

"Captain."

Seth cocked a brow and tilted her head to the side, utterly baffled at what she was looking. She then proceeds to whip her head back and forth between the iron man and the Quinjet. She lifted her arms up in a confused manner. "Who the hell is this guy!?"

* * *

Abel frowned at the situation she was facing and didn't want her sisters to be forced to listen to such a petty argument between her and Tony. It was remarkably dark outside and she didn't want to pull Cain's attention away from the wheel, all though her night vision was better than headlights so she doesn't think anything bad would happen.

"You didn't call, you didn't bother explaining, and you didn't even leave a note-" Tony was about to lay into Abel about her abruptly leaving but she quickly cut him off, her mouth hung wide open and obviously offended by the accusation.

"I did leave a note!" she protested, knowing that she wouldn't have done that to him.

"Where?" Tony only explained, raising his hands in a confused manner.

"Downstairs. I left a note on Dummy explaining why I had to abruptly leave in the middle of the night."

Tony paused for a moment to remember the last time he went downstairs. He could recall that it did look like Dummy had something taped to his claw. He only ignored it though because his mind was in such a mess when he woke up, realizing Abel was gone. He tried to backtrack on his words with her standing in front of him, a big frown now sported on her face. "You just left without saying anything to me. I swore I did something to upset you." Yeah, it was an excuse but it was all he got going for him right now.

Abel's lovely brown eyes went wide and she waved her hands frantically in front of her. "No, no, no. You didn't do anything. Something had come up and I had to leave as quickly as possible."

"What was so important that I had to cancel our plans." Tony raised a suspicious brow at what could be the cause.

A scowl appeared on Cain's face and she spoke up to get their attention. "It's none of your business," she said with a firm and hard voice.

Tony turned towards her. "And I don't remember asking for commentary from the peanut gallery."

Cain's eyes became so wide that it looked like they were going to pop out of her head right there. She snapped her head to the back of the Quinjet and stared at him. Abel, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to scream. Her face contorted badly and she looked horrified by his comment. Seth was merely questioning this metal man's intelligence, snickering to herself since that may be the first time anyone had back-sassed her elder sister like that.

Tony looked around at all the girls, not yet knowing that they were all related. The gears soon began to turn in his head when he started to look between both Cain and Abel, seeing how strikingly similar there were in appearance. His mouth immediately became dry and the color drained from his face completely. "Ah..uh...Abe...l." He turned back to her. "Is she...?" All his horrors soon came true when Abel shook her head to confirm his nightmares.

Abel spoke in a shy whisper. "That's my elder sister. That's Cain." she meekly pointed her finger to Cain who had turned back around to continue flying.

Tony's mouth shut tight like a clam. So that was Cain. The Cain that Abel talked about so fondly. The firstborn, the woman herself that he literally just called 'peanut gallery'. Tony, for once in his life, didn't have any snarky comments to say that would save him from the elder sister's wrath. His mind was a completely blank sheet of canvas. "I, um...I'm a big fan of you, and I like the way you, uh..." he couldn't gather his words at all.

Cain looked over her shoulder at him and give him a disapproving stare. "A fan? of what? Almost killing my sister?" Her words were like lightning striking him down, shortening out his reactor.

Tony felt like he lost 10 years of his life in that single moment.

Abel began to feel her stomach twist with nausea. "Sister, please," she pleaded with her.

Cain sighed and looked back to the skies. "Fine..." Abel knew that Cain wasn't one to be that cooperative, only when it involves her. She was thankful for that fact.

Abel reached out and patted Tony on the armored shoulder. He clearly was still shellshocked about the whole encounter with her sister. "We made a deal with Fury. We offered our assistance in return for our little sister's freedom," she explained.

Tony furrowed a brow after snapping out of his dismay. "Little sister?" Abel reached up and pointed to Seth standing over to his right. Tony took a long pause and stared at the small framed girl who had a curious yet mischievous look in her electric eyes. "Oh, you were right. She really is a firecracker." He could recall her totally smashing Loki into the ground.

Seth cocked a brow at the man in the iron suit. She bit down on her lips and turned to Abel with a judging look in her eyes. "I knew it. I always thought you had weird taste in men. I'd give him a 7," she said rather confidently.

Abel stared at her little sister questionably, if not a little shocked by the comment. "Did you just rate him?" She thought it was strange for Seth to say quiet for so long. So that is what she was thinking about the whole time.

Cain was already starting to feel her brain throb with stress. She rolled her eyes and called back to Steve. "See what I had to deal with for over 70 million years?"

Steve let a smile slip to his lips when he turned away from everyone.

"Why 7?" Tony was more curious about the score, rather than why she did it. "I think I would be a 10."

"You got the looks for a 10 but your personality is a bit wonky to me," Seth said and gave a so-so motion with her hand.

Cain sighed and tried her best to tune them out. She turned on her headset and quickly contacted Fury about Loki's capture. "We got him," she said while adjusting the mic close to her mouth. "But he hasn't said a word since we captured him." She ominously glances over to Loki as he set in a seat at the far end of the Quinjet. He turned to her and glared harshly before she looked away.

"Just get him back here. We're low on time." Fury answered back.

Cain frowned when he said that. "Fury, is there something your not telling me?" she said, already knowing that he was hiding something from her.

"Nothing you or your family should be concerned about," he said and disconnected the call before Cain could question him anymore, but she already got everything she needed to know from the tone of voice.

He hesitated.

Cain's eyes sharpened. "This doesn't make sense," She said out loud and glanced back to the crew.

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony shrugged, referring to Loki.

Tony had a point with that one, Cain could agree with. This guy even shook up Fury. Not to mention, he gave up before her and Abel could jump in to help.

Steve spoke up. "She has a point. I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop and he was still able to get up after Seth's attack." He said grimly, glancing at Loki with uneasy eyes.

"Still, you are still pretty spry for an older fellow." Tony joked. "What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things. You know...doing time as a Capsicle."

"Tony..." Abel spoke up.

Steve gave him a long hard stare. "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," Tony said.

lightning rippled through the dark clouds of the night and the sound of rumbling thunder made the whole Quinjet shake. Cain kept good control of the jet but her face soon contorted with concern, like something was very wrong with her. She looked back at her sisters and noticed that they carried the same worry in their eyes

Natasha stared out the windows as the thunder crackled. "What's this coming from?"

Loki jumped at the sound of thunder and lightning. He looked on edge, concern clearly reflecting in his eyes.

Steve looked at him. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?"

Loki spoke in a grim tone. "I'm not overly fond of what follows."

The Quinjet made another jolt. Seth grabbed ahold of Abel to support herself. All three of the sisters then suddenly snapped their heads to the roof, clearly hearing something that normal humans couldn't.

Abel grabbed Seth by her shoulders and gently pulled her back. "Sister..." she looked at Cain.

Cain gripped the steering wheel tightly to keep it steady. "I know..." She directed her eyes out the window, feeling her heart burst with every crack of lightning that rattled the jet. "Something's coming."

There was an unexpected loud thump on the roof of the craft like something landed on it. The Quinjet shook in the air and everyone looked up, knowing that something was here. Tony grabbed his helmet and pulled it over his face. He walked over to the rear hatch and pressed the button that opened it up.

Steve pulled his mask over his face and looked at Tony. "What are you doing?" he called out.

The God of Thunder landed on the open hatch with a hard thud that sounded like a bell ringing. Tony lifted his arm to launch a repulsor blast but Thor jabbed his hammer into his iron chest and sent him flying into the others before they could make any move to stop him. Thor forcefully ripped Loki from his seat and held him up by his neck.

"What's going on back there?" Cain called out but couldn't take her eyes away from the sky, in fear that they might crash into a mountain.

Thor stopped in the middle of his tirade when the loveliest voice he had ever heard reached his ears, clearly speaking over the cracking thunder. He looked over his shoulder as his eyes met briefly with Cain's when she tried to look back at him.

* * *

_Why can't you understand that I'm...not worth it." She wasn't crying but her voice was trembling and her eyes became glassy. Cain was even having difficulty seeing past the blur._

_"Well, you are to me!" He took his hands and gently brushed the sides of her face, feeling her recoil a bit under his sudden warm touch. "Why can't you understand...that I want to spend every moment of my life reminding you...that you are worth it."_

_He moved in slow at first in an attempt to not scare her away, but the moment he met with her natural vanilla scent, it was like all rational thoughts disappeared from his mind at once. His body just moved on with this growing desire to hold her, moving his hands to the back of her head to deepen the moment in any way he could. Thor held onto her desperately, wanting everything about this woman to be his and his alone. Cain's lips parted from shock and a sharp gasp escaped. Slowly though, her body eased up and her hands found their way to his back and grasped a hold of his shirt tightly. She took in every sensation that muddled her mind. All the pain, gone. All the anxiety, nonexistent. Cain felt all her worries slip away and morphe into something else... A first glimpse of pure contentment._

* * *

_Thor began to walk back over to the circle but kept his eyes firmly focused on Cain. He felt the tug on his heart with every step he took and wanted the last thing he saw on Earth to be her. "Cain..." he stared at her with pleading eyes. "I love you."_

_Her hazel eyes slowly became wide and the air was knocked from her lungs. She has faced an endless life, an eternity of dragging her feet...but for this very first moment, she felt pleased. Generally overjoyed like she was 'flying' and not 'falling'. Clenching down on her teeth, her heart began to swell. Cain opened her eyes and smiled one last time at him, her eyes becoming glassy and red. "Thank you."_

* * *

Cain took in a sharp breath and her heart made a leap of fate, all it ended too soon though when Thor began to spin his hammer real fast and flew out into the dark and stormy night, disappearing below the cloudline.

Tony groaned and got up off the floor. "And now there's that guy."

Natasha looked back at them. "Another Asgardian?"

"Think guy's a friendly?" Steve grumbled as he got up.

"Doesn't matter," Tony said. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

Abel snatched Tony by the upper arm and stopped him. She had a strong grip on his suit so he wasn't going anywhere. "Please wait for a moment. This is a god we're talking about. We need a better plan than just going in it blindly and attacking." She looked over her shoulder at Cain for some kind of guidance on what to do now. Instead, her elder sister looked frozen in her spot with a bewildered look on her face. "Sister?" Abel called out but Cain didn't answer. "Sis!" she said louder.

Cain noticeably flinched when Abel raised her voice and had to take a second to gather her bearings on what just happened. "Stark has a point. We lose him, we lose the Tesseract."

"Than what do you propose we do?" Steve said.

She pointed to her sisters. "Abel, you take Seth and get down there. Captain, you and Stark stay up here. You're no match for him."

"What?" Tony exclaimed, looking a bit reluctant because he didn't want Abel going down there without him, but even he could understand why it was the best option. A god going up against two immortals? No way they could lose, but still... "You sure you don't need any more help?" He had to ask, wanting to make absolutely sure she would be fine.

Abel gave him that warm and lovely smile once more and placed her hands on each side of his face. "Please stay up here. I don't want you going down there and risk getting hurt," she said gently.

Tony felt his heart clench up against her soft voice. He patted her on the shoulder and felt a sensation of loneliness rush through him when Abel slowly began to back up. He felt his heart sink when she walked over the edge of the hatch and disappeared into the gloom.

Seth was the only one who wasn't moving though.

"Seth. You need to go." Cain reminded, shouting over the wind being sucked into the Quinjet.

Seth snapped her head over towards her sister, mouth open wide. "I don't wanna go against that guy! Did you see how big he was?" she told loudly.

Cain's eye twitched. "You're immortal! Why are you worried?"

"Still!"

Cain whipped her head around and pointed to the open hatch. "Would you just go already! I'll be down there in a minute!"

"Fine! I'm going, I'm going." Seth waved her off and begrudgingly walked over to the edge, staring down into the dark abyss of the night. "Jeez...I get out of the box and the world goes to shit. " She lifted her leg and casually walked off the edge.

A second later a thought ran through their heads and Tony spoke up through the rushing winds. "Did they have a parachute on them?"

Steve looked over and saw that they were all still there, unused and untouched. "No...they didn't."


	7. Gods and Immortals

**GODS AND IMMORTALS**

Thor flew down to the European mountain ranges and roughly threw Loki upon the peak of a rocky hill, surrounded by the dense veil of darkness provided to them by the twilight. He hit the rugged terrain hard and groaned with pain deep in his voice, a mischievous laugh and smile soon surfaced in its place.

"Where's the Tesseract?" Thor demanded through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I've missed you too." Loki only laughed.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood!?" The clouds overhead bend and bowed to the mighty god's powerful voice, darkening with the sound of rolling thunder behind the thick gloom of the sky. A storm was upon them but only in the dreaded form of a very angry demigod.

"Oh, you should be thanking me. With the Bifrost gone now, much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here? Your precious earth...that's home to that appalling woman." Loki spat out in a mocking tone.

Thor's eyes became wide with sudden anger, seeing only red for a fraction of a second. He could recall Cain's lovely face like it was only yesterday and every little detail about it, but for her to be labeled as a monster made his veins burn like hellfire and it actually started to hurt. It was an obvious taunt to try and provoke the God of Thunder. He knew that, but just Loki using Cain's name in that kind of statement just mad his blood absolutely boil.

The whole mountainside trembled when Thor suddenly dropped his hammer to the ground. He marched over to Loki, his fist clenched in a tight ball. He was shaking, wanting nothing more than to knock his brother's lights out for what he said...but in the end, he was still his brother. "I thought you dead," he spoke, voice cracking from all the pent of anger and grief that developed throughout the rough year.

"Did you mourn?" Loki eyed him.

"We all did. Our father..."

"_Your_ father." Loki corrected. "He did tell you about my true parentage, did he not?" He stepped away from his brother.

"We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?" He wanted to know the truth, everything...and where it all went wrong. Moments like this, he truly did feel jealous of Cain and her bond with her sisters, but his relationship with Loki...it just felt toxic now and he hated it. Thor wanted nothing more than to have his brother back.

"I remember a shadow," Loki spat at him. "Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I was and should be a king!" he shouted, feeling his whole body quake with anger.

"You can't though... This world belongs to not only one woman, but a whole family. This is Cain's world. This is her one and only home. Do not take it as recompense for your imagined sights."

"_Her_ world?" Loki scoffed at the accusation and actually found it quite amusing. "You truly know nothing about her or _her_ world. The humans slaughter each other in droves, and your love is just as guilty. You can smell the iron coming off her from the ages of just bathing in it."

That must've hit a cord for Thor. "I am aware of what Cain had done in the past, but I'm assured that everything she had done was for the sake of protecting her family. And do you honestly think yourself above them? Above her?"

"Well, yes," he said, clouded by his own arrogance.

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. The throne would suit you ill."

Loki shoved Thor to the side and walked up to the ledge. "I've seen worlds you've never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile! I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it..."

That caught Thor's attention as he approached his brother. "Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be-king?"

"I am a king!" Loki shouted.

"Not here!" Thor roughly grabbed his brother by the upper arms. "You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!" he then spoke calmly. Pleading actually. "You come home."

Loki scoffed with a smirk. "I don't have it. You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off I know not where."

Thor clenched his teeth and shoved Loki away. He summoned his hammer back to his hand and held it up. "You listen well, brother. I..." His words suddenly fell short though when this loud, ear rattling booming noise.

_POW! __POW! __POW! _The skies went.

It was a sonic boom that was completely soul-draining, appearing like something was slamming against the air very hard, causing a mass parting in the dense clouds above them. Thor and Loki felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end when they looked up at the split in the sky. Thor was confused at what it could be...but the look in Loki's face said it all. He knew what was coming, while his brother remained oblivious.

It finally came to a head when Abel's small and petite body fell through the cloudline. Completely silent at first, like water trickling down a small lake...until her feet finally hit the ground about half a mile away from them. The impact vibrated the whole mountain range and rocked Thor and Loki back and forth.

Thor regained his balance and clenched his hammer tightly, preparing himself for what was to come. His eyes couldn't penetrate the darkness and all was quiet for what felt like an eternal second. Time either stopped or Abel hasn't made her move yet, but he definitely knew she was out there, watching, judging, and studying.

The rocks and small pebbles creaked and crumbled under the heels of Abel's shoes as she stared silently at the gods from afar. She could tell that Thor was trying to look for her but the darkness provided the immortal with the perfect cover.

Slowly, she placed her foot at the very edge of the hill and leaned down, bending her knees before suddenly launching herself towards them at an alarming and break-neck motion. She tackled Thor and threw them both right off the mountainside and inside the darkness of the forest below, leaving Loki by his lonesome.

Loki rolled his eyes and sighed. "Simpleton," he muttered, his heart almost coming to a complete halt when there was this loud crashing sound from directly behind him. Loki turned around but not fast enough to avoid a flying but small fist that punched him straight in the eye. Seeing stars for a second, he collapsed to the ground completely unconscious.

Seth shook out her fist and stood above the fallen god, eyes half-lidded with irritation. "Simpelton," she mocked and tried to impersonate his voice, rolling her eyes to the back of her skull. Seth looked back up to tried to spot Abel and Thor in the midst of the sea of trees.

* * *

The descent was rough on both Abel and Thor. They crashed into a couple of trees on the way down and came to a rolling halt, brains obviously rattled and a couple of Abel's bones were broken from the fall.

Every time she moved, even the simplest twitch made her jolt with a fury of pain. Through her struggles though, Abel somehow managed to roll herself on her back and was finally capable of breathing smoothly once more, gasping for air to return. Her body was creaking all over as it tried to repair itself, steam fluttered in the air as proof. "Ow, ow, ow, ow," she whimpered. Abel closed her eyes tightly and had no choice but to wait a couple of seconds until the steam finally faded, allowing her the ability to get up once more.

Thor let out a frustrated grunt and pushed himself up, swaying back and forth. He started at Abel with urgency in his eyes. "I will ask you politely...to not do that again," he warned the immortal woman standing limp in front of him.

Abel felt her last joint pop back into place and felt a rush of ease. "Believe me when I say...that I don't want to fight you, but I would also appreciate it if you didn't suddenly take the man we're supposed to bring in for questioning." She was, of course, being as polite as she possibly could to not cause a fight to break out, but she could easily tell that Thor was frustrated with more than one thing on his mind.

"You have no idea what you are dealing with," he shouted back at her.

"Yes, I do!" Abel replied urgently to him. "We know how dire the situation is right now and that's why we're bringing him in. You taking him away will not benefit us at all or help the situation."

"Loki will face Asgardian justice!"

"Time will tell when justice will be brought upon him...but not when we need him to find the Tesseract." She was hoping this man would see reason but it didn't look like it was processing right with him.

A moment later Abel turned her head when Seth descended down beside her, knees bent and ready to engage. She probably would've if her older sister hasn't placed a hand on her shoulder, having the grip strength of a thousand men to keep her little sister from doing anything rash.

Seth groaned and looked at her. "What? He started it." she pointed at the god who was growing more and more frustrated by the second.

"And we're not going to drag it out. We don't have the time for it," Abel said firmly.

"You've got to be kidding me." Seth broke free from her. "That asshole up there (Loki) mucked up our home so that makes him our problem to dispose of. Handsome over there can have what's left of him when we're done!"

Abel bit down on her lips when she noticed Thor gripping his hammer tightly. "Seth..." she began and saw the god pull his weapon back and chuck it as hard as he could across the forest. "Seth, get down!" She shoved her baby sister away just as the hammer struck the side of her body, bones shattering and puncturing her organs on impact. Abel was knocked to the cold floor and felt blood gush up from her throat.

"Abel?!" Seth's voice shrieked out like claws on a chalkboard. She immediately kneeled beside her fallen sibling whose eyes were wide, gurgling up blood from the damage the hammer inflicted on her glass-like body. "Oh, God...Ah, uh..." She grits her teeth and fixed a glare at Thor, eyes wild with boiling anger. "What did you just do! That's my sister!"

* * *

_The person below her laid motionless and had long, messy blonde hair and a torn-up blue dress that looked like an animal mauled it. The golden strands of hair were stained with warm blood and her face was swollen badly, discolored with black, blue and red. Her entire body was covered in bruises and cuts that weren't made by any wild animal. It was clear for Seth that it was by the hands of a human who did this._

_Seth stared at the broken woman, wishing it was someone else...she hoped it was, but she knew better. It couldn't have been anyone else. _

_"S...ister?" Seth gasped sharply and crawled over to her sister's body. "Sister?" She let loose this wild, animal-like cry and desperately shook Abel's shoulder like a mad-woman. __Seth felt her eyes began to get hazy and her throat was closing up. __"Sister! Hey! Oh, God! Please say something!" she screamed in this high pitched tone that even surprised herself. __Seth felt her body shaking all over and her subconscious spun like a twister. It's hard to breathe, much less speak anymore. The only thing that could process through her head was to shake her like a child crying for their parent, but what stopped Seth was a small gasp escaping from Abel's cut and bruised lips. __She leaned down right over Abel's chest and desperately searched for a heartbeat, hoping that her mind wasn't playing games on her. "Abel?"_

_A second later, Abel abruptly spat up the blood from her lungs and gasped deeply. Her brown eyes snapping open and darted left and right in search of something that was no longer there._

_"Hey! Hey!" Seth held the sides of Abel's face and peered down at her. "Sister, are you alright? Can you hear me?"_

_It was a struggle for Abel to speak since her throat felt like it was coated in glass shards. "Seth...?" It was painful, an electric shock rippling through her whole body and caused her to flinch. "Where is she...? We have to...we have..." Abel fought to get her body to move but the fiery pain was too great. "Please," she pleaded with her broken voice._

_Seth's eyebrows squished together with confusion. She looked up and scanned the dark forest with her eyes but saw nothing, much less hear anything either. Seth only now realized that the woods were completely quiet, not even cicadas could be heard. She found the unwelcomed silence to be eerie. "What are you talking about? Was it our sister who did this to you? Where is she?"_

_Something was terribly wrong with their sister._

_Seth knew something was wrong with Cain, she just didn't want to accept it. _

_Cain never acted like this before, suddenly becoming so estranged. Knowing that she tried to kill Abel though made Seth's heart squeeze and body tremble. _

_Was it really Cain who tried to kill Abel?_

_And for what exactly?_

_ Just what drove her to do this?_

_ Abel cried out as her brown eyes started to become glassy, washing out the blood as tears streamed down the sides of her face. __"We have to stop her or...or...she's going to kill herself!"_

_Seth's body felt like it was being dipped in ice water. She stared down at her weeping and injured sister, eyes wide with despair. __"What...?" _

* * *

Thor felt his heart sway a bit when he heard Seth's voice. The rage was absolutely poisonous, chilling to the bone and his very soul as well. Terror was there but it was guilt that began to eat away at him.

He didn't want to fight them, so the plan was to grab Loki as quick as he could and get out of there, hoping that the girls wouldn't follow. It was a good idea, he knew that, but his mind wasn't playing games on him...he knew that was Cain up there in the jet. The way that his heart sped up, the automatic attachment and yearning to touch her again were overwhelming his logical way of thinking.

He longed to see her, more than taking Loki back to Asgard...he wanted nothing more than to hold that woman again.

Thor took the moment in the girls' distress to quickly summon his hammer back to him. He began to spin it fast just when the last of the steam faded away from Abel's body, her head turned to him in an instant. She bolted upright from the ground and rushed at him in a flash. Abel took a hard swing but Thor quickly reacted this time and caught her fist before it could make contact with him. He felt his hand sting a bit when he caught her fist, his knees bowing from just the pure strength she had behind it.

He leaned back and headbutted Abel right in the face and knocked her head back. Her eyes suddenly snapped open wide though before coming down on him twice as hard, slamming her forehead against his. There was a loud CLONKING noise and Thor stumbled back before tripping. He felt his vision falter a bit as a loud ringing began to go off in his head as well as a throbbing and pulsating pain.

Seth cautiously approached Abel from behind and bit down on her lips. "Jesus, Mary, Joseph," she muttered under her breath and patted her sister on the back. "Now I just pity the poor guy." She wasn't the one who got hit but she definitely witnessed Abel's killer headbutts before in the past. Just the sound of someone's skull crashing into her's just made her skin crawl in all the wrong ways. Thankfully she never was on the receiving in of that forehead.

Abel rubbed her bruised forehead until the redness faded. "Same here. I hate doing that but it never fails to bring someone to their knees and just listen." She frowned with herself and let out a deep sigh of frustration.

It took a moment for Thor to come back to his senses. He got back to his feet and stumbled a bit, head still ringing like the bells of Valhalla calling for him. "I don't have time for this," he grumbled, already at his wit's end with these girls. He finally howled out the words he wanted to say this whole time. "I have to see her. I have to see Cain!"

This was his only desire, the only thing he wanted right now. Just once, even if it was only a single glance...he just wanted to see Cain once more.

Abel suddenly stiffened and her voice grew weary with disbelief when this mighty god spoke her sister's name. "You know our sister?"

Thor's whole body shuttered and turned cold that very instant Abel spoke those words, not entirely sure if he heard her correctly. "What?" he said weakly, no power at all left in his voice. He could see now, the resemblance between the two sisters in front of him. The blonde hair and the elegant features that looked utterly divine. It reminded him of Cain whenever he would look at them, maybe it was why he felt so reluctant to fight them in the first place. "You're...Cain's sisters?"

Seth sucked in a deep breath. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the god before her who was utterly shellshocked from this discovery. "My question to you though...how the hell do you know our older sister?"

"I...we..." Thor turned a ghostly shade of white before his hammer slipped from his fingertips and fell to the floor. His stomach began to twist painfully and he suddenly fell to his knees in total defeat. "What...was I...doing?" he questioned to himself.

Abel's pink lips parted slightly when she saw the dismay began to bubble up in his eyes. She couldn't even possibly imagine how this man could know Cain. "Just who are you...to our sister?" She was a bit speechless at this man's sudden change in tone, but their attention was brought away when this loud pounding sound rattled the air.

_POW! POW! POW!_

Abel jumped and Seth looked up at the sky, seeing the clouds split open once more. "Speak of the devil."

Something descended to the earth and slammed down between Thor and the sisters. There was this unknown force that caused a ripple through Thor's body and the whole area as well, erupting in a shockwave the pulled the god off balance. Dirt was thrown in the air and Thor could only see a fury of blonde hair before him.

Seth was only able to keep her balance because she was using her unmovable sister as a windbreaker. "Holy hell?" Seth peeked up from over Abel's shoulder and saw her elder sister standing between them in a large crater. "The hell were you trying to do? Shatter the earth's crust with your weight?"

Cain shot her baby sister a dirty look before waving her off. "I'll talk to you later about that mouth of yours. More importantly, where's Loki?"

Seth gestured with her thumb to the mountains behind her, speaking casually with annoyance itching in her voice. "I knocked him out on that mountainside over there because he was annoying the shit out of me."

Abel furrowed her brows and turned around, trying to see if she could spot the unconscious god in the distance. "I was wondering what he was doing this whole time," she muttered.

Thor blinked a couple of times and shook his head. The shockwave blinded him and caused this abrupt ringing in his ears. He could hardly make out the voices for a second when his vision finally returned. Thor looked up when Cain finally directed her attention down to him.

He got to his feet very slowly and took a hesitant step towards her, still not entirely sure if it was real or not. "Cain...?" he whispered without even realizing.

A softness grew in Cain's hardened eyes and a smile rose to her lips. "It's been like a year since I've seen you...it's comforting to see that you haven't changed at all."

Her low and gravely voice ultimately hit with this realization, a shock of reality that was completely and utterly true. She was here, standing in front of him. Bathed in the moonlight but still glowing like gold. The sensation of longing finally filled him up to the very brim just by looking at her glimmering eyes once more.

His body moved all on its own, trapping her in an instant within his arm, squeezing tightly and burying his head into her shoulder.

This is what he wanted. He wanted to touch her again, feel her hair graze against his skin and have the inchanting scent of vanilla captivate his very reality.

"I've longed to see you," Thor mumbled into her shoulder. "Cain...I've missed you...so much."

His words made the year-long wait completely worth it. Cain's lips started to quiver before she hid in the strength of his embrace. "Me too."


	8. Anxiety

**ANXIETY**

Cain stationed herself right outside the door of the glass case prison while Loki was sealed inside. She stood near to make extra sure that all the locks were engaged before stepping back. Cain crossed her arms over her chest and gazed on in silence. Her appearance was indefinite, not showing any ounce of worry or anxiety. It was her usual stern mask she would typically wear.

The calm and cunning god never ceased looking at her the whole time. His hateful yet fixated gaze didn't sit well with the lady. Perhaps she was feeling apprehensive, or maybe it was something entirely different. Which was possible. It was a tinge of uneasiness deep in her gut that told her something was wrong, and if Cain picked up on one thing throughout her endless life...that a gut feeling is never wrong, no matter the person.

Fury strolled over to the control panel and began to press a couple of buttons. "In case it's unclear. If you try to escape... If you so much as scratch that glass." Suddenly the floor below the glass box opened up and the wind began to rush through. "30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap! You get how that works?" He closed the hatch and gestured between Loki and the controls. "Ant. Boot."

The god chuckled. "It's an impressive cage. Not build, I think, for me," he assumed.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

Cain's eyes slowly lowered. She glanced over her shoulder and stared at Fury with a suspicious gaze. She knew it wasn't for Abel or Seth, much less for her. The only reasonable choice would've been Banner.

"Oh, I've heard," Loki smirked. "A mindless beast and arrogant immortals. A beast that still thinks himself a man, and humanity's most lonely creatures," he said with an insulting tone while looking right at Cain.

Cain's jaw tightened and she dropped her arms to her side. She turned around and left the room without speaking another word.

Loki snickered when she left. "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury said firmly. "You threatened my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun." He stood directly in front of the box. "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad you did."

Loki stared into his single eye. "Oh. It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what?" he grinned, staring at the cameras. "A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is," he spat.

Fury scoffed and started to walk away. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

* * *

"He really does grow on you, doesn't he." Banner said with a sarcastic grin, once the live camera feed cut off.

Seth gave a low laugh with a wide smile across her face. "I was thinking the same thing."

A moment later the door opened and Cain walked through. The stern mask on her face fell instantly and a deep sigh escaped her lips. "That man is impossible," she commented dryly and ran her fingers through her hair. She walked over to a seat at the table and took one next to Seth.

They got their man right where they want him but it doesn't look like he's going to spill his guts anytime soon. They would even go as far as to think Loki was enjoying being behind the glass.

Abel bit down on her lips and looked over at her sister, who she knew like the back of her own hand. Cain was hiding it well but it was obvious that something was bothering her. "We all know Loki's going to drag this out. So what's his play?"

Everyone turned to Thor, hoping that he could at least fill in a couple of blanks that everyone was having at the moment.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. Return I suspect for the Tesseract." Thor said somberly. He took only a split second glance at Cain before avoiding it completely.

Cain cocked a brow at his attitude.

"An army?" Steve spoke up with a raised eyebrow. "From outer space." He shouldn't be surprised by these things anymore since he was sitting next to Seth, an immortal woman. Still, never in his wildest dream did he believe the world would come to this.

"I get it now." Abel tapped her knuckles against the table to grab everyone's attention. "It's obvious he needs a portal to obtain an army, and that's why he has Erik Selvig."

Thor flinched at the name "Selvig?" he spoke up.

"He's an astrophysicist." Banner clarified for him.

"He's a friend."

"Loki as him under some kind of spell," Natasha spoke and turned away. "Along with one of our own."

Steve frowned since something about Loki's arrest was still bothering him. That man was a god but he hardly put up a fight, giving up easily when Tony and Seth got involved. "I want to know why Loki let us take him."

Seth rolled her eyes and propped her feet up on the table. "Sure as hell ain't leading an army from a cage," she said sarcastically.

Banner frowned and shook his head. "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him."

"I've cared how you speak," Thor stepped up. "Loki's beyond reason, but he's of Asgard...and my brother."

Seth looked dumfounded and stared up at the god. "Your kid brother killed 80 people in two days." she bluntly stated.

Thor blinked to come up with an excuse. "He's adopted?"

"I think it's about the mechanics." Banner pointed out. "Iridium. What does he need Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony cut in while he confidently strolled onto the bridge beside Coulson. He made sure to give a wink to Abel, which made her blush and look away. "Means, portal won't collapse on itself like it did back at S.H.I.E.L.D." He walked over to Thor and patted his massive bicep. "No hard feelings, Point Break. Though...if you try to attack my girlfriend and her sister again, I can't say Cain will stay with you-"

"Stark," the eldest immortal stopped that conversation instantly. "What about the portal again?"

"Right. It means the portal can stay as wide and stay as long as Loki wants." He walked over the control panels and began motioning with his hands. "Ah, raise the mizzenmast, Jib the topsails." Everyone in the room stopped and gave Tony a look. "That man is playing Galaga," he pointed. "He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Steve and Seth cocked a brow and glanced over at the worker to see what he was doing.

Seth turned to Cain, obviously confused yet curious. "What's Galaga?"

Cain smirked a bit at Seth's naturally curious nature. Her eyes were practically glimmering like a child on Christmas morning. "I'll show you later." She patted Seth's bony shoulder.

Tony turned around and stared at the controls. He frowned and covered one eye. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," Hill said dryly.

"Sounds exhausting." Tony turned around and began to press some buttons. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density." He very sneakily pressed a small device against the control. Abel noticed what he did but only turned her head away, choosing not to say anything. "Something to kick-start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics," Hill asked,

He gave a sly grin. "It was one of my many attempts to try and charm Abel. Worked pretty well, too." He caught a glimpse of Abel's face burning red from embarrassment. He also noticed Cain and Seth giving her a weird look, too.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve spoke up.

Seth was able to answer that one herself, patting Steve on the shoulder. "He's gonna have to heat the cube to a hundred twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," she explained like it was the simplest of things to understand but all she got was an odd look form Steve.

"That only if..." Abel chimed in. "Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," she said, getting even more strange looks as everyone began to turn to the girls.

"He could achieve heavy Ion fusion at any reactor on the planet if that's the case." Cain finished with a dry-sounding voice.

The girls looked up and saw that the whole room stopped what they were doing to stare at them, slack-jawed. "What?" All three of the girls said at the same time.

The words they spoke sounded so natural to them. Right off the tongue with no problem at all. It should be no surprise that they would know something as complicated as astrophysics. Tony and Baner could understand them easily, but to most people, like Thor and Steve, it sounded like they were speaking utter gibberish. Feeling totally left out of the conversation when it's steering that way.

"Finally," Tony said with a big grin and gestured to the three of them. "People who know English."

Steve's mouth gaped open. He turned to Seth. "Is that what just happened?"

Seth's lips trembled a bit when she tried to fight back a growing smirk. Truly, she found that innocent and clueless demeanor a bit adorable, the way he looked at her with such puzzlement. "Let's focus on the scepter for now," she smiled. "It's pretty magical if you ask me."

Steve could at least agree with her on that one. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." he pointed out.

"Yeah, I noticed." Seth's lips stretched out in a thin line, giving a weak laugh. "Scared the shit out of me."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube." The doors opened once more, but this time Fury walked in, just in time to have caught Steve and Seth talking. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys," he said grimly.

Thor blinked and looked perplexed at the remark. "Monkeys? I do not understand-"

"I do!" Steve and Seth shouted out immediately, at the same time no doubt.

The whole room fell quiet and gave the two an odd look.

"I understood that reference." Steve turned a bit sheepish from his outburst and turned to Seth for help.

He wasn't the only one who was feeling a bit bashful. Seth had to turn her face away and act like something else was grabbing her attention, totally ignoring his plea.

Tony rolled his eyes and Cain honestly just looked embarrassed, using her hands to hide her eyes from everyone's sight. Heavy footsteps weren't lost on her though when she noticed Thor abruptly leave the room without another word to say. Cain dropped her hands and stared at the god as he marched off, the sliding door close behind him.

Seth frowned. "What's up with him?" She wasn't given an answer when Cain got up from her chair and walked out of the room, too. Seth threw her hands up and gave an exasperated sighed. "What's up with everyone?"

* * *

Cain trailed hastily after Thor as his heavy boots rattled the whole hallway. Thor took long strides to create distance but Cain was light on her feet and caught up to him in a flash. She grasped his shoulder tightly to make sure he stayed in place. Thor was a bit startled when he felt an iron grip on his shoulder. He turned around, surprised to see that Cain actually went after him.

He opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off.

"Hold on." Cain looked around for any kind of privacy, since talking in the middle of a crowded hall was not going to work. Her eyes scanned the surrounded area until they landed on an empty room, the same room she and Abel waited in when they first arrived. "In here. Come on," she said quickly and pulled Thor over to it. She gently pushed him inside and closed the door behind her.

The moment Thor heard the soft click of the door he was filled with all kinds of butterflies, a sensation he hasn't felt in a long time since departing from her a year ago. All the uneasiness he felt because of her finally resurfaced. Cain wasn't wearing that deep red lip shade from the first time they met, but a nude color instead that focused all the attention on her unique hazel eyes. They were the same kind of hazel that totally hypnotized him into a state of silence. Words were lost to him.

Thor broke eye contact with her and turned his head the other way.

Cain noticed that he was purposely avoiding eye contact, the same way he did back on the bridge. "Are you okay? You seem quite removed from everyone, including me." This was the first time they've really talked to each other after so long, so his distance from her was really worrying.

"I would never avoid you," he said wistfully and reached for her hands that were so small compared to his. Thor took in a deep breath and backed up against the table. "Word's can't explain how happy I am to see you again. The moment I left...I was immediately overwhelmed with the desire to come right back. Not a single day went by that I didn't think about you. And the moment I came back the first thing I did was..." His smile suddenly fell and Cain began to feel his hands tremble. "...throw my hammer at your sister and headbutt her in the face."

Cain's entire body and emotional output shut down when she remembered what he did. The sounds of internal bleeding and bones crushing against the mighty hammer. She didn't witness it but her sharp hearing caught on to it. Just the sounds alone made her feel sick. It was stomach-wrenching like she was moments away from throwing up.

Surprisingly she wasn't angry, but the strong duty Cain felt was something else. She was the eldest in her family, making it her life's goal to strike down any and all threats against her sisters, against her family. She's done it before over a hundred times and will gladly do it thousand times more.

It was an entirely different sensation though that took over her overprotective sisterly instincts. It was the look of Thor's own regret. He had expressed it clearly to her in the past of how much he admired her relationship with her sisters, even going as far as to wish to meet them.

For once she felt conflicted with herself.

"I've noticed." Cain bit down on her lips and finally spoke. Her words were flat-sounding and void of any kind of emotional warmth that could comfort Thor's anxious heart. It was without a doubt excruciating to hear her talk like that, knowing he was the cause of her discomfort and meddled mind. "It wasn't the best first impression you had with my family."

Thor sat down in the chair beside him and leaned his head against Cain's stomach. He heard her heartbeat pulsate throughout her whole body as the room fell quiet. "Please forgive me. That wasn't my intention. I didn't know they were your sisters. But even then...attacking them was unjust. I shouldn't have done that in the first place." He lifted an arm and wrapped it around her wast, clenching the back of her jacket tightly.

He silently begged for her to answer, to reassure him that everything was fine.

"Thor...if it was anyone else than I would find it very difficult to forgive them. I know you though...and I know you didn't mean it."

The chains of anxiety began to release themselves and he was able to breathe again. "I ask for your forgiveness."

"Because it's you I'm willing to overlook it..." A deep and forceful growl came from Cain's throat. "But don't cause harm to them ever again...because next time I won't be so forgiving." It pains her to have to say those words, but this much she will have to promise herself. Cain's first and top priority will always be her sisters. "Besides...it looks like Abel already returned the favor." She gestured to his forehead that had a knot on it. She brushed his hair away slightly and saw the bruise, Irritated and red.

Being this close was intoxicating since his senses were enthralled by the smell of vanilla. A thought ran through his head at the moment, recalling that this was the first time, in over a year, that they were by themselves. Thor ran his hands up to her slender shoulders, to her neck, and gently caressed the sides of her face. He stood from his seat and slowly began to lean in to close the distance between them. Inch by inch. A burning, excitable heat raced through his body when the strands of her hair brushed against his face, when...Cain suddenly stopped moving, only in inch apart. She was quiet, almost as if she was listening in on something that her ears picked up on. Suddenly her face twisted into irritation and she stepped away from him, heading over to the door.

Thor became dejected once the warm feeling vanished, feeling as if it was a sign of rejection. She truly hasn't forgiven him for what he did. "Is something wrong?" he asked, hoping it really wasn't the case.

"Yeah," Cain answered back and marched with purpose in front of the door. She took a breath and opened her mouth, shouting out a name in a low resonating voice that made Thor jump with shock. "Seth! I know you're there. Open the door or leave."

Silence. That was all there was until the door, very slowly, began creaking open. It stopped slightly ajar and Seth's petite figure peeked through the crack, holding a sheepish yet embarrassed smile on her thin lips. Her face was that of a child who overheard something she wasn't meant too. She played it cool but innocently.

Naturally, it seemed that her lips wanted to curl up into a smirk. "Sorry...It just sorta happened." She came into full view, still beaming widely. "I thought this family didn't do secrets," she said in a teasing manner.

"You're a punk," Cain said bluntly, fighting the urge to just shut the door in her sister's face. Again, it didn't matter anymore since the mood was already ruined. "And I thought this family wasn't about eavesdropping either." She shot right back. "You said it just 'sorta happened'. What do you mean?" The beaming smile on Seth's lips fell instantly, and Cain knew something was wrong.

Seth clicked her tongue. "Fury need's your help," she said

"Why? Something came up?"

"Kinda." She appeared reluctant, chewing on her lips to get the words out. "He wants you...he wants you to be the one to interrogate Loki."

In a single moment, it was like every fiber of her being clenched up and responded to only one sensation that the whole aircraft was feeling at the moment. Anxiety.


	9. Loki's Interrogation

**LOKI'S INTERROGATION**

Abel's hair was like fine silk through her fingers, trying to tie it up into a high ponytail to keep it out of the way while she worked. She had already peeled her dark blue blazer off her body and was carrying it while she made her way down the clustered halls. Every person she passed, she noticed that they had a storm of peril plastered on their faces. She couldn't blame them honestly. The ship had quite a few unsavory and unpredictable characters onboard now.

There was Dr. Banner. A gentle yet shy man who seemed rather tired, exhausted with worry from what was lurking inside him. A raging green beast who was just as unpredictable as her baby sister. God forbid if that creature got loose. Just the image of it sent shivers down Abel's spine.

Then there were her sisters. Seth was alright if Cain can keep her in check, and Abel herself never was the one to start something unless it was completely necessary. Still, people who only know a little about them will have their imagination go wild, thinking about what ungodly acts they must've done in the past to get to this point...which has a possibility of being true. Abel didn't know. It's been such a long time since she participated in a war. The last one being World War I.

Abel shivered at the old memories of trench warfare.

And then there was Loki...there weren't enough words in the English dictionary that would describe that snakey man. His words were cold, conniving, and his tongue was the equivalent of a sharp blade. It truly was astounding to her that Cain was able to keep a straight face while staring the god down. Abel felt like she would've cracked under the pressure, and Seth...not so much as 'crack' but 'break', and by 'break, she means to break the glass and strangle the life out of the man.

Thinking about it now though, Seth really wasn't unpredictable. Her emotions overwhelmed her when she becomes angry, and when she gets angry, she either gets violent...or just plain mean.

Abel strolled into the lab and saw Tony first. He was unpacking his and her equipment to start putting together an algorithm. Banner stood across the room and was getting ready to start scanning the scepter.

She stared at the glowing blue gem in the center of the wicket instrument of death and felt a sudden sense of peril for reasons unknown to her. Her heart thumped in her chest, throbbing, pulsating out of control the longer she had to stare at it. Abel tried her best to swallow her emotions and looked on, speaking in a chipper voice to soothe the tension in the room. "We ready to go?" she asked.

Banner still looked a bit frazzled but was able to answer her with a sharp nod of his head. "Ah, yeah." He looked up and met her warm brown eyes staring into his, knowing every little detail about his anxiety. "Sure you don't want to help out with the interrogation?"

Abel shook her head. "No. It's fine. My sister is actually better at this kind of thing than I am. I could do it too, honestly, but she's a master at pulling information out of people in a limited amount of time."

It was funny though to Tony because most of the time Abel came off as warm, bubbly and totally non-threatening. Cain, on the other hand, looked frightening enough to make even the toughest of guys spill the beans.

He has seen a terrifying side of Abel before in the past. When she threatened Anton Vanko, and another when she came home to find the house trashed from his last birthday party (Can't really blame him. He was dying.) He still was regretful for that event. The disappointment on her face was immeasurable, and it pained him to look at her afterwards.

"I honestly can't imagine you doing something like interrogating," Tony said. The corner of his lips twitched, threatening to grow up into a smirk, a smirk he knew Abel would've been irritated to see. She must've thought he was mocking her when he wasn't. (Even her irritation was cute, but he tried not to do it so much for the sake of their stable relationship.) What's your method?"

Abel blinked and contemplated her answer for a moment. "Kill them with kindness."

Tony snorted. He quickly had to turn around to laugh silently to himself. That sounded like something she would do, and the thought only made him laugh a bit more.

Even Banner was trying his hardest to not laugh.

Abel's face turned a vivid and bright shade of scarlet in the fraction of a second. A world record. "I-I know how it sounds but it really does work!" she protested through studdered words. "My sister just happens to be better at this!"

Tony's laugh faded into giggles, feeling his eyes water up from chuckling so hard. A thought finally accrued though and he tried his best to pull himself together since it was a rather serious topic. "You know what...? I don't think your sister likes me all that much," he brought up to her to address his concern. He's been so busy up til now but the moment he stopped working...Cain's disappointed gazed filled his memories.

Abel frowned and took a seat at her appointed desk. "First impressions mean a lot to her. It's hard for my sister to change her opinion of someone once it's already made." She wanted to take the approach slowly and introduce Tony on her own accord. Take Cain out for their yearly dinner together and bring Tony along. Something simple. Something nice. But, of course, all those plans went down the drain. "I still can't believe you called her 'peanut gallery'. What were you thinking?"

"The problem was that I wasn't. It didn't process fast enough to figure out you guys were related," he protested his case to not totally blame himself for his wrongdoing. It was all a lie though. He spoke those words. It really was his fault that Cain didn't like him, or rather, Cain didn't think Tony was good for Abel. Still...how was he supposed to know that meeting Cain would be the equivalent of introducing himself to Abel's parents. "You think I got a chance at changing her mind?"

"I don't know, Tony." Abel shrugged, much to his dismay. "Perhaps you can charm her into changing her mind."

Tony cocked a brow at the idea. "Think it'll work?"

She looked at him with a smile, or rather it was an alluring smirk. "Worked on me." She winked.

He knew that look. She doesn't give it very often, so he knew it very well and what she was thinking at the moment. It was a knowing smirk that resonated a force that would've been so much worse to control if Banner wasn't in the room at the moment.

God...he not only loved her. He adored every little detail about her. Her soft and full lips that would move his heart whenever she would smile. Her eyes that stared so tenderly at him, like he was the only when in her life (Aside from her family). Abel's dainty hands and soft skin. The smell of lavender that was still...overwhelmingly intoxicating.

He just loved this woman with every fiber of his being, and so forth.

Back to the matter at hand though, Banner grabbed the scanner and started to hover it over the scepter. There was a sudden buzzing noise that spiked from it. "Oh yeah, gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's report on the Tesseract."

Abel groaned and leaned her hand and head against the table. "Oh no...that's going to take weeks to process."

"Not if we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the homer cluster, we can clock this and six hundred teraflops." Tony chimed in, winking in Abel's direction. She looked up and gave him a genuine and warm smile that made her entire face light up.

Her smile was like a mirror, causing him to grin as well. He could stare at that smile all day if time would allow him too...and his busy schedule.

"You know," he looked at Dr. Banner. "You should come by Stark Tower sometimes. Top ten floors, all R&D. Abel designed them herself and absolutely adores it. You'll love it too, It's candy land."

Banner looked a bit apprehensive. "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem." he hesitated to speak."

A deep sigh escaped Abel's lips. "I know. You broke one of my vacation homes." She remembered the damage took a decent-sized chunk from one of her many bank accounts.

"Sorry." Banner squirmed nervelessly around her.

Abel's heart honestly ached for this man. She didn't want him to be uncomfortable and was trying her best to ease his worries. "Don't trouble yourself about it," she said and offered him her signature smile.

Banner was beginning to understand why Tony adored her so much. Her smile, the bubbly energy, and the smell of lavender. It wasn't any kind of superpower she got from immortality, it was just a natural gift that Abel had. Being around her was like a breath of fresh air and he could definitely see the appeal in her personality, finding it quite charming.

"Well," Tony began. "I promise a stress-free environment. No tension. No surprises." He then suddenly poked Banner in the side with a miniature electrical prod, zapping him.

"Ow!" Banner flinched.

"Hey!"

Abel recoiled at the sharp voice and looked up, seeing Steve storm into the room. He obviously upset about what he saw...and he honesty had the right to be.

"Are you nuts?" he called out.

"Jury's out." Tony waved Steve off. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

Abel had to backtrack on that last statement. "Weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve spat angrily at Tony who didn't even seem phased by it.

"Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." He glanced at Banner. "No offense, Doc."

"No, it's alright." Banner assured him. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't...handle pointy things." He glanced at the prod in Tony's hand.

Tony pointed the prod at him. "You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve reminded him firmly.

Tony reached into his bag and pulled out a pack of blueberries to munch on. "You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables," he explained and handed the bag of berries to Abel for her to grab some. In which she did and popped all six of them into her mouth.

Steve lifted a brow. "You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy. Captain. He's _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets." He gestured between Banner and Abel. "It's bugging them too, isn't it?"

Banner began to babble out his words to not get involved with that delicate topic. "Uh...I just wanna finish my work here and..."

"He _is_ hiding something," Abel's crystal clear voice broke the tension like a knife. She peeked up at them from under her lashes and gave a knowing look. "Before my sister and I came aboard...we talked and...she noticed that Fury was definitely hiding something since he's been very vague to us until now. What Loki said to Fury about the cube... I believe that was meant for Tony," she pointed. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it's still over the news."

"The Stark Tower?" Steve remembered during his time in New York. "That big ugly..." Tony gave him a look. "...building in New York?"

"The building may be a prototype but it's run by Stark reactors, self-sustaining energy. It can run itself for a year. Why didn't they call Tony in on the Tesseract project?" Abel expressed her confusion. "And more importantly...what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

Tony could easily answer that one himself. "It's because of you, sweetheart. Or more accurately...your family."

Steve furrowed his brows, not understand what these two are talking about. "They're worried about the girls?"

He nodded. "Obviously...It's because SHIELD doesn't want them to see whatever they're working on." Tony looked down at the device in his hand. "I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finished breaking into all SHIELD's secure files," he said very casually.

Steve had to take a moment for everything to process. "I'm sorry, did you say...?"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has even tried to hide. " He offered the bag of blueberries to Steve. "Blueberry?"

Steve tightened his jaw. "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focus, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

Abel bit down on her lips and slowly got up from her seat. "Steve," she called out to him gently. "Are you really willing to just blindly follow along when these facts are so obvious?"

Steve flinched at the question, her soft voice resonating throughout his body. The deep and endless brown of her eyes bore into him, forcefully pulling out the truth that has been itching in the back of his head the whole time. Something wasn't right, Steve knew it...but why was he so hesitant to accept it? Tony knows something wrong. Banner knows something's wrong. And of course... Abel, an immortal woman knew something was amiss upon this vessel.

"Just find the cube." Steve pushed aside their concerns and walked out of the lab and into the hall.

He wanted to drop it...wanting to just move on with the next mission, never think about it again, but a sudden thought ran through his head that rooted him to the ground. It was Loki's words. The jab he made towards the immortal family. _ "Humanity's most lonely creatures." _Something was not sitting well with him and every fiber in his body wanted to either leave it be or investigate it.

Who else would know about SHIELD's secrets?

The name finally crossed his mind and rolled right off his tongue. "Seth." Steve looked around the hallway and went on a hunt for the woman.

Back in the lab, Tony was still kind of annoyed about Steve's lack of awareness from the situation. "That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wonder if they should've kept him on ice."

Steve did make quite a few good points, despite how he was looking at the circumstances. The way Loki stared at Cain before she left was almost frightening to Abel, worrying because she didn't know what the god had in store for everyone.

Abel groaned and did a full spin in her chair. She heard Banner chuckled.

"The guy's not wrong about Loki." Banner said and went back to the readings on the board. "He does have the jump on us."

Tony walked over to Abel and stopped her from spinning. "What he's got in an ACME dynamite kit. It's going to blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does." Abel suddenly gave him a punch on his arm, purposely weak because she didn't want to break him. Tony tried his best to not smile since he didn't want to provoke her into using more strength.

The doctor smiled. "Yeah. And I'll read all about it."

"Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us."

Banner chuckled, though it seemed kind of forced in Abel's eyes. "You see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed. Like a nerve," he said grimly. "It's a nightmare."

Abel's lips turned down into a frown, once again her heart was aching for this man. "If it makes you feel any better, my sisters and I don't wear any kind of armor, too. We're just as exposed as you. Not to mention..." She pointed to Tony. "He's got a cluster of shrapnel in his chest, trying every second to puncture his heart." Abel lightly tapped her knuckle against the light in Tony's chest. "This thing right here stops it."

Banner's lips thinned into a line. "But...you two can control it." He admired her kindness but his problem was different from Abel's immortality or even Tony's high-tech suit of armor.

"It's because we learned how too," Tony revealed and walked over to Banner and his work station.

"It's different." He shook his head and continued working to try and avoid the topic.

Tony slid his finger across Banner's screen and pulled all the data to one side so he and Banner could talk, face to face. "Hey, I've heard all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk..." He then corrected himself. "The other guys... saved my life?"

"I guess we'll find out," Abel called out from across the room. They turned to her and saw the wide and beaming smile that was flowing with confidence and reassurance.

* * *

Seth was rather easy to pick out in a crowd since her looks were rather unique, as well as her short stature. She had her back turned to everyone and was just staring out the window, silently watching as the wisps of clouds pass by the aircraft.

Now, this was quite unusual for Seth. Steve was not used to seeing her look so tranquil. A face so utterly calm, that he thought, for a moment, must've mistaken her for someone else. Her thin lips were slightly parted and a curious look of awe was swimming in the blue ocean of her electric eyes. Peaceful, quiet, but also very lonely.

Once again, he heard Loki's words in his head, repeating like he was being mocked. "_Humanity's most lonely creatures."_

Immortality was lonely. Yes, you're surrounded by friends and you're are able to find love, just like Abel and Cain. But...has Seth ever had that experience? Had she ever loved anyone before? And if she did...just how long ago was it? Even Steve could admit that was she an absolutely charming woman and charismatic, just like her sisters, so he COUDLN'T imagine Seth never falling in love before.

"You gonna stare at me all day or are you gonna talk to me?" Seth's velvet voice broke him out of his fixation. She looked over her shoulder and smiled warmly at him, a type of smile that complemented her eyes very well. "Something bothering you?" The smile seemed to have curled up into a smirk when she saw the troubling look in Steve's matching blue eyes.

He looked around and inched closer to her so no one else would hear. "I need your help?" he urged her.

Seth scoffed. "Sure, why not. Seems like I'm full of favors today," she said mockingly, rolling her eyes to the back of her skull.

That's what she's been doing the whole time, helping out people who don't deserve her. It was irritating and Seth, if not for her sisters, would've abandoned ship long ago from the mission. It was their mess so they need to be the ones to clean it up. Not rely on people like her family all the time. They weren't their back-up. Their services shouldn't be free.

"I'm serious, Seth." Steve placed his hand on her shoulder and was slightly shocked to feel how thin it actually was. "Do you...think SHIELD is hiding something?"

She cocked a brow.

Her services were actually free if it benefited her.

Seth turned her whole body around to face him, bending her neck all the way up to look at his face that was still obviously concerned for something. "Oh yeah?"

* * *

Loki wandered aimlessly in the box that was full of long, drawn-out silence. Nothing but his own footsteps kept him company, as well as his own reflection. He stopped walking all of a sudden and a smirk grew on his face. "Well, if you wanted me surprised then you certainly succeeded at that," he said joyfully and turned around, seeing Cain Bamlett standing on the other side of the door.

Cain cocked her head to the side and crossed her arms over her chest. Her face was flat as per-usual, an emotionless mask to hide any kind of trouble, worry, sympathy or compassion she could be wearing underneath.

The deviant god laughed a bit at this woman, studying her with his piercing eyes, eyes that couldn't pierce through her perfect mask though. He honestly had no idea what she was thinking right now, but he had an idea of why she was here. "Humanities firstborn. So what do I owe the pleasure?"

The eldest immortal finally spoke up. Her firm and rough voice was like sandpaper against his skin. "Oh, you know about that? I assume Barton told you about me?"

"Indeed he did." Loki shook his head, still smirking like a demon who knew every little dirty secret about this woman. He wanted to break her. He wanted to see that mask just crumble like fine sand. "He told me quite a bit about you and your family...and how you attempted to kill your own sister."

Not even a twitch. Cain's eyes didn't waver, much less blink at the first jab he threw at her. It wasn't the first time people had tried to tear down Cain. Ruin her beyond recovery. But little did the god know that numerous people in the past had tried the same approach. Bringing up her first sin, her first disgrace as the older sister.

Loki stared at the woman but she made it a point that she wasn't going to follow along with his schemes. "Now that recall it. This may be the first time speaking to you. Face to face."

Cain blinked, thinking it over. Back in New Mexico, she briefly talked to the destroyer since she knew Loki was listening. But he had a point. This was the first time they talked. "It's not often I meet people as old as you."

"Not as old as _you, _I assume. I believe you may actually be older than the Allfather."

Once again, she blinked. Allfather. She knew of that name, the name of Thor's father, as well as Loki's father. "By Allfather, you mean Odin?" she asked.

"Yes. Even your sisters are older than him." His voice soon became coarse, sharp like a dagger that was inches away from cutting her. "I do not envy your existence though. Years pile on top of you. I can see the strain in your eyes. You're exhausted."

He was right.

Cain shrugged her shoulders and dropped her hand at her hips. "Well...millions of years of little sleep will do that to you," she said like it was the most casual thing there was.

"Have you really thought about it?" he asked her, staring into her eyes to see if he can make them waver. "I mean really thought your whole life out."

"What are you talking about?" Her hazel eyes sharpened just as much as her voice did.

Loki scoffed and spoke slowly, making sure Cain could hear every word. "There is nothing here for you on this planet anymore. There hasn't been for a long time." He stepped up close to the glass door and leaned in. "Can you even fathom your reality. My dear immortal...you end is now. You're facing an eternity of blackness, so remember your last light as the final star in the sky burns out...for good."

Cain held his gaze against her own. "By your hand? My dear god, do you even realize how many people said that to me already. Time and time again had they tried to end my eternal suffering by simple matters...but none succeeded. You weren't the first and you certainly won't be the last. " Her voice was like an earthquake. low, rumbling, and terrifying. "Don't threaten me if you're not willing to take the consequences upon failing."

Loki was no match for Cain, even with an army behind him. She had decades, upon years, upon eras of countless experiences that he wouldn't even dream of. The next words Loki spoke though knew were it, the only weakness this unmovable object had. "How about your sisters then?"

And so it happened...Cain's eyes grew wide and she was stunned into muteness, all the emotions she's been holding back spilled right out like a broken dam. The mask on her face began to creak, split apart and crumble to the ground to show a woman who was terrified of losing the only thing that really mattered.

Her sisters.

Once more, Loki smiled gleefully, the grin on his face stretching ear to ear like a Cheshire cat. "Ah, there it is...the mask finally falls. A mask so strong, yet so easily broken by the sheer mention of your beloved sisters. If I can't break you...then I'll be sure to break them."

Cain didn't utter a single word more and calmly turned away from him. Loki expected her to walk away, accepting her defeat at his hand, but she went over to the controls and began to press some buttons.

Loki noticeably started to become worried since he knew what they did. "What are you doing?"

Cain's voice was so unsettlingly calm that it was actually chilling to listen too. "Setting an example. If Barton did tell you everything about me...then you already know that I'm not above this."

The floor below the box suddenly split opened and released a huge gust of wind inside the room.

Loki's eyes grew wide with panic when he realized what she was about to do. "You're insane." She was planning on killing him. Dropping the box all the way down to the earth. " You can't kill me! You need me!"

"They need you! I don't!" Cain's voice roared louder than the sound of the whirling wind, powerful and dangerous. "Let me say this. If you ever consider harming my family again, than you will meet with a faith worse then death. Angering me."

This madwoman was wrathful, the true embodiment of a calm storm that was currently circling him. Her sharp eyes, not yet a glare, penetrated the safety of the glass. Was she serious? SHIELD needed him, but did Cain really not care about that? The only thing he knew in that split second was that she was willing to throw it all away, the world's potential annihilation, the safety of everyone on-board. There was no hesitation at all in her eyes.

Loki swallowed hard and backed away from the glass, opening his arms up like he was daring her to click that button that will end his long life. "And here I thought they brought only one monster to fight for them," he growled.

There was a shift in Cain's eyes as every emotion was sucked back behind the mask. She closed the hatch under the box and stepped away.

So she really wasn't going to do it? Was it all a ruse? Loki was perplexed because he was almost certain she would've done it, no question about it. But now...there was no more wrath in her eyes.

"Here's what I think," Cain began. "You _know_ you can't do anything to my sisters, much less anything with me." she rambled on as Loki became more and more confused at what she was getting at. "So you're left with only one option...Dr. Banner."

Loki's eyes went wide, and that was all Cain needed to confirm her suspicions. She was able to subtly manipulate him into telling her the truth. The truth is: he was going to release the Hulk inside the aircraft.

The interrogation was over.

Cain won.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Haha. Let me tell you this. I'm not even sure if Cain was willing to drop the box. I think she may have been 60% serious. Don't threaten Cain's family. It's the biggest no-no you could possibly do. ****Cain has no chill, but clever as hell to use a unique method of fear of drag the truth from him. Loki didn't stand a chance. **

**And let's face it..we all know what Tony and Abel's would've done if Banner wasn't in the room. **

**I can't express it enough, guys. I'm excited as hell for the next two chapters! I wonder what's gonna happen once the Hulk's released? What are our girls gonna do? We're gonna find out pretty soon!**


	10. Get Back

**Author's Important Note:**

**I will be officially changing up my schedule for all my ongoing stories, including this one. I will no longer be posting this story once a week. Instead, It will be updated on a random week that I've chosen. You can go to my profile and see my story scheduling post dates for January and February. **

* * *

**GET BACK!**

With a single hard and forceful yank, the reinforced door popped right off its locks and slid open, drowning out the darkness of the storage room with the hallway lights. With a glow at her back, Seth's face remained obscured when she stepped inside, seemingly melting into the darkness like an old ghost. Lost to time and endlessly wandering the world...until there was a clicking sound of her flashlight turning on.

Steve stepped in beside her and glanced around at the crates that were safely tucked away. "Do you really need that light?" he asked. It was a harmless question but he was just curious. The file he read about her family listed some of the abilities they had, one of them being night vision. So he really can't imagine her needing it.

A sudden frown stretched to her thin and pink lips when she realized he had a point. The flashlight really wasn't doing anything for her since her vision was sharp. Sharper than Steve's even. "Now that you mentioned it...not really." She gave the light to him instead, figuring he'll probably need it more than her. "I think it's a habit, you know? Didn't even realize I was doing it until you pointed it out." Seth wandered through the heap of crates, looking at the names that were on the sides to see if she could find anything familiar or suspicious.

"Habit?" Steve walked beside her and used the light to look around, shinning it up at the top floor that had even more storage.

"Yeah. A habit to not act like I'm a million year old immortal with a bad temper." She laughed at her own joke.

Seth had a pleasant laugh, Steve noticed through the short amount of time he knew her. It showed off all her teeth and gave her electric blue eyes a new meaning. Childish, free, a breath of fresh air. And it was those words he would use to describe her perfectly. He could see how her bad temper would get her into a lot of trouble, but Steve only saw that aspect of her to be very minor.

He half expected some sort of million year old wisdom to come from her mouth every time she would talk, like how Cain and Abel had that appeal, but not Seth...she was just way to different from her classic siblings. There was just...so much more to this woman than he could've imagined, and he knew with all his heart that she wasn't the bad guy by all means. If you put the fact away that she's an immortal...Seth truly did just act like a normal 21 year old girl. Wild, young, curious...and beautiful. And he wouldn't deny that fact.

Seth continued to chat as they strolled. "My sisters and I picked up on habits to try and act normal around crowds. Like pretending to struggle with things that weren't actually heavy or having bad reflexes on purpose." She named off a few.

"And in this case: acting like you can't see in the dark. I see what you're talking about." Steve nodded his head. It was nice talking to her, having a normal conversation and figuring out little things about her more and more. It was very interesting. Her life sounded interesting. "It must be hard, getting to this point in time and still not being able to act like your normal selves."

"Well...people just have a habit of freaking out when they don't understand things." Seth's voice had a sudden and unexpected tinge of sadness in it.

That surprised Steve since he figured she would've gotten used to it. But the way she said that made it sound like she wasn't over it yet, or if something a lot deeper was bothering her.

He stopped walking and Seth had to turn around when he did. What surprised her was that he actually looked worried for her. "I know you're probably tired of being asked this but...are you alright with this? Having to clean up SHIELD'S messes," he asked.

She stared at him and smiled, but it wasn't a normal smile by all means. In this very moment by themselves, in the dark where no one else could see...Seth was now starting to show her true age through those electric blue eyes. They looked magnificent yet old, while her smile was soft and saddened. Not speaking a single word more, her silence said it all.

* * *

Fury advanced his way down the hall at a hurried pace after learning the news from Cain and what Loki was going to do. With that dangerous thought in mind, he marched with purpose into the lab and was expecting to see the three hard at work. Instead, he saw Banner and Tony sitting back while Abel was still at the computers, checking something that wasn't in Fury's field of vision, because of his eye. "What are you three doing?" Fury demanded.

Tony cocked a brow at Fury's rushed approach. He glanced over toward Abel and saw her peeking her brown eyes up above the glowing computer screen. She lifted her hand and give him three fingers. Three minutes, she signaled. Tony nodded and looked back. "Uh, kind of wondering the same thing about you," he answered to Fury.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

Banner chimed in. "We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss-" Tony was cut off when Abel spoke from across the room.

"Got it," she said and rose up from her seat. Abel spun her computer screen around, revealing that Tony's code had finally broken into SHIELD's file, giving a harsh discovery.

Tony narrowed his eyes and stared at the file that showed a picture of the Tesseract being put in what looked to be a missile head. "What is PHASE 2?"

"Funny you should ask." A smooth, velvety voice cut through the air like a knife ready to stab someone. It may be sweet-sounding but far from playful, as Seth strolled into the lab beside Steve. She carried something over her shoulder that looked big and heavy, slamming it down on the table for everyone to see.

It was an old HYDRA gun.

"PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons," Steve said, then turned to Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow, so I asked Seth for help."

Abel slowly moved out from around her desk and cupped her hand over her mouth. "What?" she gasped softly and turned horrified. Biting down on her lips, she accurately was trying her very best to hold back on her anger. It was the type of anger that if lost, could rip a hole in the very room they stood and suck everyone out into the open air. "Did you really believe that we wouldn't find out?" Her voice quivered from her growing resentment against this man. The same man who kept her sister locked up for 70 years.

Helping SHIELD fine the Tesseract was the extent of their deal with them, but now Abel just felt like an idiot for going along with this mission so blindly. There was always something more, something hidden and out of sight from the immortals. This whole time she figured the reason SHIELD didn't want them to get involved with their business was that they feared them, but that wasn't it...they just didn't want the sisters to find out about their dirty little secret.

Not only Loki...but SHIELD too could not be allowed to possess the Tesseract.

The world will surely meet its end quicker that way. Humankind's own downfall would naturally be by their own hands. It was tragically beautiful but bitter at the same time.

In an instant, Abel hasty marched over to the door as Fury tried to intercept her. He knew what she was doing and who she was going to call. Fury didn't make it in time though when she shouted outside the door...calling out for the one person, the worse person imaginable to find out about this exposed secret.

His heart took a nose-dive straight down to the ground and shattered on impact.

"Sister!" Abel shouted.

There was no doubt in his mind now. Cain was going to kill him, then bring the whole aircraft down with her own hands.

Luckily for Abel and Seth, their elder sister wasn't far and was already at the end of the hall when she heard that desperate plea from her sister. Cain took off in a hurried sprint just as Thor and Natasha rounded the corner to catch up. The immortal lady had already crossed the long stretch of hallway and made it to the door leading into the lab.

Abel opened her mouth to inform her of what was happening but was greatly startled when she saw how rigid Cain had become, addressing her sisters in Hebrew so no one else could understand them. It was a method she used whenever she needed to just talk to her family about important or delicate matters. It was a way to not freak anyone else out. "_Don't take your eyes off of Dr. Banner!" _Cain pointed her finger towards the puzzled man.

Banner flinched at the severe tone in her voice. "Ah, what is she talking about?" He was alarmed at this point since Cain was looking directly at him when she spoke in Hebrew. He didn't understand what she was saying but her voice told him it was important.

Seth cocked a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, that's what I wanna know." She gestured her thumb towards Fury. "Did you know that One-eyed Willy over here was planning on using the Tesseract to make weapons?"

Cain's eyes grew wide as Thor and Natasha walked into the room. She snapped her head over to Fury and just stared at him. Her unnerving gaze pinned Fury to the ground and kept him from moving. She stared at him like a dang predator who would pounce if he so much as twitched.

There were just too many things to process at the moment that it was beginning to make Cain's head throb a bit. She knew that she should be focusing on Banner right now but this sudden news flash made her have whiplash. Cain stared at Fury for a moment before looking back to Dr. Banner. _"Abel, please just watch Dr. Banner for me," s_he managed to spill out and was grateful Abel didn't question her and moved over to Banner's side.

_"Just give me a couple of words so I know what's going on."_ Abel pleated in Hebrew, her beautiful brown eyes growing more and more anxious by the minute. It was always Cain's silence that killed her.

Cain was able to gather her bearings enough to calm down considerably, speaking lowly in Hebrew still. "_Loki's manipulating Dr. Banner. He's trying to release the Hulk._"

Seth's eyes grew wide with terror and shock as a soft "Oh shit" escaped her lips.

Abel felt a cluster of sharp pain in her abdomen, breathing soon becoming shallow while fighting to keep a panic attack down. One problem. Abel could only deal with one problem at a time but this flash in her mind about a green monster literally chilled her to the bone. "But..." She had to clear her throat since her voice was cracking from the stress. "What I want to know is why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to make weapons."

Fury tightened his jaw then pointed to Thor and Cain. "Because of them." he suddenly said.

This puzzled Thor. "Us?"

Cain kept her mouth shut and didn't pay any mind to Fury shifting the blame.

"70+ years ago we learned that the biblical figures, Cain, Abel, and Seth were true. Undefeated and unmatched immortal beings that could level a small town if you piss them off enough. And last year Earth had a visitor from another planet. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopeless, hilariously, outgunned." he stated grimly.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor felt a surge of anger wash over him but he was more so offended by the fact that they saw Cain and her family as threats.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched," His eyes turned to Cain who remained quiet. "They can't be controlled."

During this whole time, Seth stood in the corner of the room with a pit of anger beginning to swell from within her. It was boiling and hot. She saw red and spontaneously began to march up to Fury but was stopped when Cain's iron-like grip wrapped around her waist and pulled her away, stopping her from killing Fury.

"You're working with the Tesseract is what drew Loki it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor cut in.

"A higher form?!" Seth's voice cracked like lightning, totally bewildered. "These sumbitches can't even close an umbrella, much less prepare for a war of that magnitude! The world is nothing but a match stick, moments away from being lit!"

Seth's harsh words pained him to hear since she was very much telling the truth. "You forced our hand." Fury defended. "We had to come up with something."

"Nuclear deterrent." Tony cut in dryly. "'Cause that always calms everything right down."

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor said.

"It's his M.O." Banner began to feel the frustration growing in the room and it agitated him. "I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're...we're a time-bomb."

Fury turned to Banner and spoke firmly. "You need to step away."

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony placed his arm on Steve's shoulder but was immediately slapped away.

"You know damn well why! Back off!"

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony stepped up into the soldier's face.

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, immortal-dating, philanthropist," Tony announced with a cocked head.

Steve rolled his eyes. "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. You're the kind of guy who would let the woman he loves do it for him. You don't care if she gets hurt...it doesn't matter because you know she can walk it off."

Abel's heart stung with that remark because she knew it wasn't true. Yes, there were plenty of times she let herself get hurt in Tony's stead but only because she was immortal and he wasn't. Dead was a small trivial and temporary matter for her, but for Tony it was permanent.

"You think I don't care when I saw my girlfriend being burned alive to save me? Do you have...any idea how much I wanted to take her place during that moment?" There was a new kind of anger beginning to surface in Tony's eyes. He looked like he was going to punch him any minute now but the only thing that was stopping him was that Abel was in the room, and he knew she didn't want to see him get hurt. "You're a lab rat, Rogers," he spoke through his teeth. "Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

* * *

The ramp of the carrier opened up as it hovered in the air outside the helicarrier. Clint Barton stood at the base of it with a bow and arrow in hand. He pulled an arrow out and placed it against the bow and pulled back. He stood still for a bit then suddenly released it. The arrow rippled through the air but suddenly made a sharp turn by a gust of wind, puncturing the engine as the faint sound of a timer began to go off.

* * *

Abel rubbed her temples when her head started to hurt. Cain gave her a concerned glance and kept a firm arm on Seth to make sure she wouldn't jump on someone. All three of them could sense the growing aggravation in the room and could even begin to feel it. It was like a hazy mist clouding everyone's judgment, and at the same time, an odd feeling being to radiate from the scepter that sat idle on the table.

Cain didn't like that scepter one bit, and it wasn't just her. It was unnerving the whole immortal family.

Just then all three of their eyes widen and they snapped their heads in the same direction, out the window where nothing was in sight. Cain and Seth walked over to the thick glass fame and stared out it, giving each other uncertain looks.

Something was wrong. They knew they could confirm it too with how all three of them reacted in the same way, staring in the same direction.

"Agent Romanoff," Fury asked. "Would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..."

"Where?" Banner cut in. "You rented my room."

Fury tried to calm the developing situation. "The cell was just in case..."

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" The room finally went quiet for the first time in minutes when those unbearable words fell from his mouth. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, unit you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" You could see something bubbling in his eyes as everyone became discouraged. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Abel slowly inched over to Banner when his words began to boil up to the point of rage. "Dr. Banner," she called out softly, noticing Fury and Natasha lowering their hands to their weapons. "Please put down the scepter." She placed a delicate hand down on his shoulder and he flinched.

Banner glanced down at his hand and finally noticed that he was holding Loki's scepter. This shocked him to his very core since he didn't remember at all grabbing it.

Just then the computer starts to beep. The search was over.

The Tesseract was found.

Banner placed the scepter back on the table. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all." He and Abel stared at the screen that finally had the location of the Tesseract while the rest of the 'team' argued with each other on who will get their the fastest. Banner looked up from the commotion and finally noticed that the immortal sisters, Cain and Seth hadn't said a single word this whole time. They were fixated on the outside. "Hey," He called out to them. "What's wrong?"

Seth gave Banner a puzzled look and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Something is beeping in my ears." She looked to Cain who was quiet, still searching out the window. "Sister?"

Cain's stared silently with eyes narrowed in on what that beeping noise was. Dread soon came over her as a mixture of hysteria and terror crossed her face in a fraction of a second. She whipped her head around and shouted at everyone in a panicked voice. "GET BACK!"

The arrow detonated and engulfed the engine in flames. The fire sprung up from the vents and shot up into the lab where everyone was standing. The blast threw them away in different directions and blinded their eyes from knowing where they all went, including Cain. She had managed to grab only Seth in that fraction of a second it happened and tossed her out of harm's way but she had no idea where Abel and Dr. Banner went. The fire faded and the two were just gone.

"Abel!" she called out but heard nothing.

Seth yanked both Steve and Tony up by their shoulders and shoved them. "I am not playing this game right now of 'who has the bigger suit'! Get your asses moving right now!" she yelled as all three of them rushed out of the room.

Fury sat up and saw the smoke quickly filled the room, as well as his lungs. "Hill!?" He reached for his earpiece to call in, wanting to know just what happened.

* * *

Panic spread throughout the bridge as Hill ordered everyone to their positions. "Turn up the engine! Number 3 is down! Can we get a run in?" She walked over to one of the men. "Talk to me."

The Galaga player pointed to the monitor. "Turbine's loose. Mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there and make repairs while we're in the air."

"We lose one more engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get inside and patch that Engine."

* * *

"Stark! You copy that!?" Fury shouted into his earpiece.

_"I'm on it!"_ Tony called back.

"Coulson! Initiate official lockdown in the detention section then get to the armory! Move out!"

* * *

The scent of smoke and burning metal filled Abel's senses enough for her to come out of her state of shock, replaced soon with dread though to find that she and Banner were knocked down below to the engine room. There was a glass window behind them upstairs that they must've been blown back against.

Abel had to blink a few times to process everything that was happening around her. It was a lot so it took longer than she would've wished. "Wha...?" Nothing was broken but she surely was bruised and beaten by the fall.

Fall...?

Banner...?

Abel cranked her head to the side and saw Banner on the ground a foot away. "Dr. Banner?" she called out gently to him, sucking in a deep breath of smoky air.

Banner was struggling, needless to say. He was gasping, breathing heavily and clenching his hands so tightly that they turned white. Abel was hit with a sudden sense of terror and had trouble breathing just as much as Banner was.

Was he turning? Down here in this narrow area?

"Hey. Hey!" Abel scrambled to her knees and crawled over to him, despite her fear. If she can calm him down then it would be alright. If she can stop the turning then everyone will be alright. "Dr. Banner, you need to calm down, okay? Just listen to me. Everything's going just-" She gently laid her hand on his back when he snapped his head up to her.

"Alright!?" he shouted at Abel in a monstrously low voice that sounded so soul-draining to her. It didn't even sound like him anymore. Like two people talking at the same time, their voices overlapping and melting into one.

It frightened Abel enough to where she had to stand up and back away from the once shy and awkward man. His skin began to turn a dark shade of green and his shirt started to rip, his body growing in size. He fell off the vents they were on and scampered around on the ground. One last time, he looked back at Abel. His eyes were still human, the last thing that remained, pleading at her silently with words that could never come to light.

Abel began to feel her body tremble as fear overtook the sense to run away. "Sister?" she called out desperately, for some reason wanting to see a familiar face instead of facing this creature alone. "Seth?"

Somebody...anybody.

His body was at least 10 times bigger than Abel's when he stopped growing. His muscles pulsated and moved under his green skin as this deep growl resonated throughout the whole aircraft, as well as Abel's body. It was a sound that could rival Cain's own powerful voice.

Abel took small steps in backing up. Her vision started to blur with tears and she couldn't help to cover her mouth with her hands to try and keep herself silent...but it was too late. The Hulk's head slowly looked over his shoulder and spotted Abel's small figure behind him. He clenched his teeth so tightly his whole body shook with rage like it was replacing the pumping blood in his veins. He was practically made of it.

He turned around and took one large step forwards as Abel took one small step back. The Hulk abruptly pushed off the ground and charged at her in a mad dash of blind fury. He swung his arm side to side like a maniac when he ran, hitting everything around him as he closed the distance in a fraction of a second.

Abel could no longer contain her voice. It broke from the fear. She opened her mouth and screamed. "CAIN!"

The Hulk reached his hand out to her but only made it a hairs distance away before Cain suddenly dropped down from the floor above them, crushing him into the ground with all her might. His body laid flat on the ground with a large crater below him from the impact she inflicted.

Abel took a breath of relief and felt like her knees were going to buckle. "Sister?"

Cain immediately jumped off the Hulk and grabbed Abel by her shoulders to pull her away. She knew the creature wasn't down just yet and was still very much awake, just as angry as before. She could hear the deep and intimidating growls vibrate the ground.

Abel stood closely behind her elder sister as they started to back away slowly. "Where's Seth?" she said in a voice that was nothing but a whisper.

Cain started to quicken their pace. "She's still upstairs, but I'm pretty sure she's in a better position than we are right now."

The two sisters retreated steadily away from the Hulk as he dug himself out of the hole. His whole body trembled when he turned around to face them, his face twisted and morphing from hatred. He hovered over the girls like a Shadow of Death or Eternal Damnation, in their case.

Cain urgently turned Abel around and began to push her, desperate to get away. "We got to go. We can't fight here. Go! Abel! RUN NOW!"

The immortal sisters took off at an alarming rate with a raging green monster hot on their tail in a deadly pursuit of cat and mouse.


	11. Abandon Aircraft

**ABANDON AIRCRAFT**

Cain held her trembling sister closely and sank deep into the darkness of the engine room, cramped between two large walls of piping that only gave them a small and narrow view of the outside where a monster prowled. He would growl and throw things around and howl with frustration when he couldn't find the two immortals.

Abel was crying but had to do it silently to herself while Cain kept her quiet, holding her hand over her mouth and gently shushing her to not give away their hiding spot to the angry green beast.

Pressing her back against her elder sister, she noticed how calm her heartbeat was, pattering only a little when the beast got too close for comfort. It was the complete opposite of Abel's own heart that was pounding like a drum and hurting her chest. It was a miracle in itself that the beast didn't find them yet with how loud she felt her heart in her ears.

Slowly but surely, the beast wandered off and Cain finally released her sister, pulling her hand away from her mouth. They waited silently for a second to be extra sure he was far away, knowing that he would be back again to resume his search. This was his third time searching the area, so he wasn't a completely mindless beast. He knew that they were hiding from him. Still, it gave the two immortals a chance to breathe once more and whisper between each other.

Abel wiped her tears away with the back of her sleeve. She couldn't take her weight anymore and slip down to the ground. Her back pressed against the wall and her knees touched the pipes in front of her. It was a cramp little place but it was a good hiding spot from the Hulk. She would've never thought about hiding if Cain didn't literally clap her hand over her mouth and dragged her in when they were given the chance. "Oh, God. It's been a while since I've been this scared," she muttered in a very mouse-like whisper, knowing that Cain's sharp ears would've picked it up.

"What about Mount Vesuvius? Trying to run away from all the ashfall." Cain brought up the bitterly hot memories and smiled very weakly. She reached her hand down and patted Abel on the head, feeling her silk-like hair underneath her fingertips. "I thought that was your number one."

"I'm not sure about that anymore. Being chased by a Hulk is definitely a close second...if not the first." Abel rubbed her shaking hands against her face and brought them up through her blonde hair that looked almost stark white. She let out a breath and closed her eyes for three seconds before speaking again, a bit calmer now. "Seth's still upstairs?"

Cain nodded and hunched down beside her. "Yeah. I managed to push her out of the way but couldn't get to you in time." She looked dejected and disappointed with herself. "Sorry..."

Abel smiled, at long last, and patted Cain on the cheek. "Thank you. I probably would've died from a heart-attack if Seth had to face him alone. She wouldn't have been able to handle him by herself."

"I suppose." Cain's head snapped up suddenly and she peeked out through the cracks in the pipe, hearing the sound of heavy and angry footsteps lumbering about. He wasn't leaving. "We can't stay and we can't fight him here either. We got to get to an open area so we can move around...and shove him off the aircraft."

Abel's eyes grew wide with horror. "But wouldn't that kill him? What about Dr. Banner?" She urged her sister with a desperate voice.

"Don't worry about that." Cain didn't sound concerned and kinda waved her sister's worries off. "From what we've already seen on his file...we would be lucky if that fall knocked him out and returned Dr. Banner to us. The point still stands though: we need him off this craft. He's going to tear the whole bloody place apart if we don't do something about it-" Cain's eyes grew wide before she hunched down, the sound of heavy footsteps and impatient shouts right on the other side of their pipe wall.

It was silent for a moment, eerily calm before the Hulk belted out this horrendous screech that came all the way from his toes. He lifted his hand and swiped across the pipe walls, destroying it and exposing the sisters in hiding. His eyes were bloodshot and inhuman, screaming down at them with his hot breath upon their skin. He tried to smash them with his gigantic hands but Cain managed to drag her sister out of harm's way before he could.

The girls broke out into a dead run. Their hearts pounded in mad chaos, eyes watering, and muscles aching as the Hulk took chase to them. They weaved dangerously in and out of small and tight corners as the Hulk lingered close behind, swinging his arms side to side as he ran and destroyed everything that he hit. Glass went flying, pipes were destroyed and things were hurled in their direction as the girls frantically tried to get away from the creature.

They began to get tunnel vision when the corners of their eyes grew dark, narrowing on something at the far end of the hall. It was the door leading outside to the landing pads. Cain practically slammed her body against the door and left a large dent in it upon impact. She didn't even bother with the control panel and just grabbed it with her hands, tearing it straight off its hinges before they both ran through into the blinding whiteness of the outside world.

Their heads were swimming in the clouds with the lack of air, making it difficult to grasp their surroundings within the harsh wind tunnel they were faced against. Cain and Abel had to get down into a kneeling position to make sure they didn't get blown off the edge instead.

They lied in wait for a moment and could hear the sound of angry screams coming from within the aircraft, approaching fast. And with one final scream, the Hulk busted through the doorframe and shoved his body through the small hole...now standing on equal ground with the immortals.

* * *

Seth grabbed the door and pulled it open, letting the wind in with the dense smell of smoke and burning metal. A good chunk of the Helicarrier had been taken out and all that remained was the open air. Steve looked over the edge and couldn't see the ground because of the thick layer of clouds that were below them.

"Stark! Stark, where are you!" Seth shouted over the raging gusts of wind. The whole aircraft suddenly made a hard jolt and almost launched Seth right off the edge. She managed to grab onto the railing though before her body could make the swan-dive. "Holy shit!" she cursed and stepped back so she wouldn't fall off. "Cap'n, take a step back." She reached out to his upper arm and pulled him away from the dangerously unstable ledge.

Tony flew around the corner and came to a halt near the engine that had ceased to work. He was now dressed in his red and gold Iron Man suit that was married with nicks and dents all over. "Let's see what we've got. I got to get the superconducting coolant system back online before I can access the rotors, work on dislodging the debris." Tony looked over to steve and Seth. "I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position." He pointed over to where a box was.

Seth cocked a brow and saw where Tony was pointing. The control panel was on the other side of the massive gap, so one wrong move could send them falling to their deaths. Well, rather for her, it would just be a very bad day.

Steve swung his arms out and leaped over the gap. he grabbed a piece of pipe that was sticking out and swung to the other side. Seth made very little effort in her leap and just simply jumped over the gap. They got to the control panel and pulled it open, revealing wires and a bunch of flashing lights...making both Steve and Seth draw up a blank.

"What does it look like in there?" Tony called back while getting inside the engine where the propellers were.

Steve huffed and rolled his eyes, completely lost. "It seems to run on some form of electricity."

"Well, you're not wrong," Tonny admitted. "Power Princess, could you help out your elders?"

Seth stared slack-jawed at the flashing lights before clamping her mouth shut, now in deep thought. "Ah, yeah...just keep in mind that I'm 70 years behind...so it's gonna take a couple of seconds for things to make sense." She pressed her finger to her chin and gawked at the control panel to see how it worked and what relays needed to be connected or not. It was honestly overwhelming to look at.

"Can you figure it out?" Steve was concerned and Seth could clearly see it reflecting in his blue eyes. It made her smirk with amusement.

"Yeah. Just give me a minute or two." Her smirk suddenly fell flat. She soon looked over her shoulder like she heard something.

"What's wrong?" Steve glimpsed back from where they came from to see if he could spot anything. Nothing was there though. He's already seen that look a handful of times, knowing he just had to trust it when she reacted like that. "Is something coming?"

Her electric blue eyes sharpened and her voice became eerily calm. "Just keep your eyes behind us, okay?" Seth said nothing more and just left her back wide open for Steve to take care of.

Seth took a couple of seconds of nerve-racking silence when her hands suddenly sprung into action and moved all over the control panel. Steve was clearly taken aback by how fast she was moving things around and rearranging wires. It was like something clicked in her mind and all at once, she understood what she needed to do and worked at a consistent speed to get it done. Her brain was like a lightning storm, spiraling, and with every flash of light came an answer for a problem.

It was utterly astonishing to witness.

Seth suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked up at Steve, grinning ear to ear and clearly quite proud of herself. "Got it," she said cheerfully and got back up, sliding the control panel back in place. "Stark, everything's good on our end. What else?"

Tony soon answered back from within the engine. "Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm going to have to get in there and push."

"If that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded." Steve reminded him.

"That stater control can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that could-"

"Speak English!" Steve called back. He looked back to Seth and lifted his arms, rolling his eyes to the back of his head.

Tony huffed a bit. "See that red lever? It will slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it. Wait for my word."

Seth looked around and spotted the red lever on the other side, a floor below them. They both hopped over to it and stood around the lever and waited for Tony to say the word.

They stood by it for a couple of minutes when Steve abruptly elbowed Seth in the arm and gestured down to where they came from. They could see what looked like two soldiers marching out of the engine room and stopping at the edge.

They noticed right away that they weren't with SHIELD since one of them pulled out a grenade and was about to toss it at the already damaged engine. They didn't get far though before Seth jumped down and grabbed his arms. She shot her knee up into his elbow and broke it, making him drop the grenade. Seth then promptly kicked it off the aircraft and let it detonate. She then grabbed the guy behind him too and just mindlessly shoved them both off the edge to meet oblivion.

It didn't occur to her at the time that another enemy soldier was peeking around the corner and took aim at Seth who was distracted by looking over the edge, not able to hear him at all because of the rushing wind battering against her superhuman ears.

Steve jumped down to see what was going on and happen to catch the sneaking predator pointing the barrel of his rifle at the unexpected immortal. "Seth!" His shrill voice called out, eyes wide with panic.

Seth turned back around at the last moment just as a gunshot ruptured her eardrums. "Whoa!" She fell to the side and was just able to dodge the bullet.

Steve moved quickly by grabbing a chunk of metal and throwing it at him. It didn't make its mark but it distracted him long enough for Seth and Steve to escape to the upper level and hide mostly out of sight. The enemy still tried to shoot at them from the safety of the doorway but just barely missed. Bullets pierced the wall beside them and made sparks fly.

Seth stayed in front of Steve and kept her eyes peeled on the guy who was still in hiding. If she got shot in the head then it would be lights out for three whole minutes, so just rushing him wasn't an option. "Just keep an eye out for Stark's signal," she told him, peeking around the corner but only yanked her head back when the guy tried to shoot her. "Little shit!"

The whole Helicarrier then made another hard jolt when a different engine began to lose power suddenly. No longer able to keep the vessel up, it began to lose balance and make its descent.

Steve accidentally made a step back and felt his foot drop beneath him. "Seth!" he instinctively called out when his body started to drift away into the open air.

Seth glanced over her shoulder and processed everything in a single fraction of a second. She whipped her body around and she jammed her fingers into the wall, hooking her nails into the metal. She grabbed Steve's outstretched hand and stopped him before he could fall away from her.

Seth called out to him over the roaring gusts of wind. "I'm not into good-looking men like you falling to their deaths!" Her voice was just dripping with sarcasm, almost as bad as the carefree smile on her lips.

Steve felt his heart surge with joy and all he could do was smile.

* * *

The Hulk didn't witness anything with the blinding rage clouding his eyes, or merely it was because he was outmatched by the two immortal sisters who worked together like one, sharing a single mind. One was swift and nimble while the other carried more power, but both were exceptional fighters, given their ages.

To them, the Hulk was nothing but a wailing child who didn't know how to use his own strength accordingly.

Abel's moves were almost elegant-looking, dodging blow and blow from the Hulk. She moved with such grace that it didn't even look like she was trying, falling away from his giant arms that tried to make a grab at her. They were redirected in seconds though so he never even came close.

She hooked her arm up with Cain's and swung her around to face the Hulk, giving her the chance to finally nail a straight shot right into his jaw that forced him to the ground. No longer was he screaming or yelling or making much of a fuss anymore. That final blow had certainly done it and jostled his brain enough for his berserk state to settle down.

Abel took a breath and felt her hands shaking. It took a lot for her to get tired but trying to fight this thing just drained her mentally. "Oh, God...a beast was really only a beast," she said and dropped her head. She placed her hands on her knees and took ten seconds to calm down.

Cain's lips curled while watching the squirming Hulk try and get up, only to fall to the side because his world was spinning so much. "Yeah...this was the first time having to fight against a creature like this."

"An _unfortunate_ creature. Don't forget, please, that it's still Dr. Banner inside." Abel corrected, eyes glassy with sadness.

Cain closed her eyes and nodded, correcting herself since she knew she was in the wrong. "You're right. Though, it's unfortunate that he's like this. It's like a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." She kept a keen eye on the Hulk.

"I was wondering why he was so familiar.-" Abel's voice got caught up in her throat when all her weight was shifted to the side and caused her to fall over.

The whole aircraft began to lose altitude and dip to the left.

Abel stumbled a bit but caught her footing easily enough, digging her nails into the floor to keep herself upright. She glanced back up to see her sister but froze in this instant of paralyzing fright, breathing slowly and slipping into this state of catatonic shock. Her mouth dropped open but no words fell out fast enough to warn her about the threat that lurked behind the unexpected Cain.

The Hulk, now fully out of his woozy state, darted up from the ground in a single heart-beat and wrapped his arms around Cain in a tight bear hug. The whole aircraft was leaning too much though and he ended up tumbling and disappearing over the edge with Cain still trapped in his arms.

"No!" Abel's high-pitched voice cut deep through the air like a sonic blast.

She ran to the edge and looked over. Cain's body was still hung outside in the air but she managed to grab ahold of the ledge with both her hands before she could fall. The Hulk was still hanging on too but kept a death grip on Cain's leg, screaming in his unholy voice that was busting their ears.

Abel reached down to try and help her dear sister but the gap between them was too large to even get close to grabbing her. "Sister, I...I can't get you!" Abel's face was ghostly white with panic and dread.

Cain grit down on her teeth and tried to kick the Hulk off but nothing was working. He was even trying to grab her other leg and use her to climb back up. They managed to get him off but now they had to make sure he stayed off. It took a moment but Cain measured her options...and didn't like either of them. "Abel, don't worry about me-"

"NO!"

Cain froze when Abel's sharp voice stunned her into muteness. Not once did she ever recall her sister shouting at her like that and whole-heartedly rejecting one of her orders. Her voice was cracking too so she wasn't used to her raising her voice. It was not something that Abel did. It was something Abel never did, especially to her elder sister, her family.

Abel was weeping, spilling her words that sounded like they fell straight from her very soul with how painfully honest they were. "You're not doing this again! I'm tired of you constantly sacrificing yourself for us! This is not how our family is supposed to be! We're sisters! Let us..." Abel took a breath, eyes wide and watery, realizing something as the next words slipped from her mouth automatically. "Let us take the fall for you sometimes..."

Cain's whole body clenched when she saw Abel slowly get into a position. "Don't you dare!" She growled her desperate and anxious words out, taking in a deep breath and a shuddering exhale. "Abel!" Cain felt like time was slowing down purposely just to torture her. Like God himself was doing all this just so she could suffer more.

Abel stood above her, the sun at her back and looking utterly angelic with her golden hair and teary eyes. Beneath her though was a green demon that was trying to wedge himself between them. Abel didn't hesitate and dropped from the Helicarrior, ripping the demon off her elder sister upon her descent.

Cain didn't even have time to scream as Abel fell from the heavens alongside the demon, smiling one last time before being devoured by the cloudline. "ABEL!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I am so sorry I left you all hanging for this long, but I felt like I needed to do it to avoid burnout. I'm alright now so don't worry. Just remember that this story is not going to be posted weekly anymore. I want to work on a single story once a week now. I hope you're not angry or disappointed with me. I'm trying my best.**

**Anyway...I noticed that I kinda go biblical near the end of the chapter there...and I have no idea where that came from. But I guess it's like observing a scene unfold through Cain's eyes with how things were worded. But I bet you weren't expecting Abel to take the dive with the Hulk at the end, now weren't you.**

**I do hope you all haven't given up on me yet and will continue to support this story. The only reason it's been going on for this long is because of you all!**


	12. Immortals Fall

**IMMORTALS FALL**

Seth could hear Tony's struggled shouts rippling through the wind like knives in her ears, blending in with the sound of gunfire that was ricocheting off the walls beside her. Small flecks of metal were torn off the pipes and were thrown into her face, cutting deep into her skin and causing blood to momentarily flow before instantly healing. She still managed to keep a death grip on Steve's hand though while he laid suspended in mid-air, being thrashed around by the harsh wind pressure.

"Ah!" Seth gasped sharply when she felt burning hot shrapnel rip into her shoulder and back, lighting her insides on fire and causing her body to tremble violently. She whimpered and clenched down on her teeth, waiting for her regeneration to kick in and ease the excruciating pain.

"Seth!" Steve shouted over the rage of the wind, his voice piercing and distressed as he saw Seth's faces contort with distress. "Seth! You alright!?"

"No! I'm being fricking shot at and it hurts like shit!" Seth's voice belted even louder like a volcanic eruption going off. She sucked in a deep breath and tried to adjust herself so she wouldn't be half out of the aircraft. "Don't worry! I'm not letting go!" She let out a breath and smiled reassuringly at him before being pelted once again with shrapnel from the hell storm of bullets, penetrating into the wall and shattering upon impact. "Ugh...!"

Tony shouted over the open communications to Steve. "Cap hit the lever," he called out.

"We need a minute here!" Steve answered back while trying desperately to pull himself back in as Seth continued to get pelted by the razor-sharp shrapnel. "Seth's taking a lot of fire right now!"

"Yeah! But I need the lever. LIKE NOW-" Tony argued before his voice was suddenly cut off. "Uh-oh." Static came over the connection and pieces of his voice broke through a couple of times. "Help!"

Seth managed to pull herself a couple of inches back over till both her feet were on stable ground once more. She looked over her shoulder to the lever then back at Steve. Her face twisted with deep thought like she was judging the distance between him and it. "You better hit that damn lever." She warned him, and with one hard pull, she swung him all the way around and slammed him hard right up against the lever. He managed to pull it when he fell back against the ground.

Seth's ears perked up quickly to the sound of a reload and a cocking gun coming from behind the corner that one of the guys was still behind. She estimated that he might have multiple magazines that all held at least 30 rounds, but there was no doubt in her mind that if she can get to him before he reloads then it won't matter how much ammo he has with him. It was just one single guy hiding behind the corner.

The intruder quickly finished his reload and poked the barrel out and immediately took aim at Steve who was still on the ground. He pulled the trigger and held it down, a blast of white light emitting from the small opening as bullets flew out. They soared through the air right at him before Seth's small frame jumped right in front of him, taking the hit and ripping her face wide open. They struck the side of her cheek and head and revealed the deep redness and raw flesh underneath her skin, throbbing veins and streaming blood that trickled down her jawline and exposed teeth. They continued to puncture her chest and shatter her ribs. The pain was almost instant. Her body screamed and burned like hellfire dousing every exposed nerve in her body. The brightest shades of red clouded her eyes but she was still able to pinpoint where the man was and how many rounds he had left. 5 shots. 4 shots. 3 shots. 2 shots. 1...

She was able to finally hear the audible clicking sound of an empty firearm.

Steve lifted his arms off his head and looked up, horror reflecting in his eyes and despair screeching out from his lungs. "Seth? What did you do!?" He grabbed her shoulders just as her body began to sway. Seth fell limp against him as blood fell down her arms and dripped off her face that was half demolished and shredded. "Oh God, Seth!"

Her breathing was rough and struggled, gurgling up blood that fell from her lips and down her jaw. There was no mistaken the wheezing chuckle that was escaping from her damaged throat though. "Looks like you're out of bullets..." she spoke with a cracking giggle and looked up, eyes half-deranged and unfazed by the aspect of 'death' creeping up on her. It soon was nothing but a brief view with the release of steam coming off her that began to heal her body.

Seth didn't wait around and kicked off her right foot and jumped down a level, hunching in low as the man tore away from her view to reload as fast as he could. He couldn't even pull a magazine out fast enough before he felt a strong but small hand grasp his shoulder and shove him down. She climbed on top of him with blood still dripping off her face. She raised her fist above his head and brought it down with a lot of force.

Even though Steve was far away, he could still make out the sound of bones breaking and Seth's strained grunts before nothing. Its been a few seconds but he still couldn't see her. "Seth? Seth, are you okay?" He got up and hesitated to peek around the corner. "Seth?" he said a bit warier.

There were light but hesitant footsteps coming from behind the corner and Seth finally popped out, stained dark red but seemingly uninjured with the last bit of steam fading away in the wind. "You didn't get hit, did you? I thought I got all the bullets," she asked rather casually.

His words left him as she stared deeply into his equally blue eyes. She was clearly concerned and that is what baffled him. He wasn't hurt but his heart was aching with the fact that she would jump in without a single care for her own body. She's willing to let herself get ripped apart to keep him safe? "Yeah. Are you though?"

Seth's lips turned up into a soft smile that made her eyes look like they were made of shimmering blue gems, unbreaking and unafraid. "I always am."

Only a moment ago did he remember those beautiful eyes being stained red, but now they were alright. _She_ was alright. After all, Seth was timeless, and it was a natural setting for them to be alright. He didn't like it though. Hated it actually. He would look at Seth and see a bright-eyed young woman with the self-confidence of a thousand men, then he would remember her torn-up body laying limp against his arms. It was like a stain in his mind that would never be washed away no matter how much time has passed. As far as he's concerned, Seth didn't deserve that.

"Seth."

"Yeah?"

Steve opened his mouth and was about to tell her to not do that again, but something else entirely came over him, the bitter realization that this woman was not who he kept imagining her to be. She was older than the rivers, the mountains, the very grounds he would stand on. She was like a giant. An immortal woman.

"Steve?" Seth cocked a brow and saw the strain and dismay building up in his eyes the longer he looked at her. She got the impression that he wanted to say something but struggled to keep it down. "Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

"Thank you."

"Pardon?"

"Just...thank you, for all you've done so far." He tried to offer her a smile to get one in return.

It took a while with the strong amount of suspicion she was giving him, but it looked like Seth decided to drop it and give him what he wanted. A bright and warm smile. "You're welcome."

Steve turned around and reached up for his communicator. "Stark? Stark, you still with us?" he called back since it been a while since they heard from him.

They both directed their attention back to the open air when they heard the sound of stuttered thrusters coming around the corner. Tony's suit had plenty of nicks and dents in it now from almost being ripped apart by the propellers, but it looked like he made it out just in time when Steve pulled the lever.

"Yeah," Tony said and made a rough landing right in front of Seth. She reached over to him and pulled him away from the edge just as his helmet slid up. He panted for a bit before eyeing her. "Have you heard anything from your sisters?" he asked, a bit stressed now since he still didn't know. He couldn't even hear the Hulk's screams anymore either.

Seth's face twisted when she suddenly jumped, the sound of a frightful and horrifying scream carrying through the wind. It was so powerful and soul-draining that it made Steve and Tony plug their ears to block out the noise.

The look on Seth's face was that of utter panic, only because it was somewhat nostalgic. "Sister?" She felt her blood run cold and she immediately directed her eyes upwards.

* * *

Cain could feel the wind whistling through her fingers as they stretched out into the thin air, grasping ahold of nothing and feeling coldness upon her skin. No longer could she see Abel, the pure light vanishing and falling from the heavens, the place she should have been all along and not upon the muddy grounds and filthy streets of the world. Not like this. Not ever. The color drained from Cain's eyes and the world, before she knew it, had turned gray.

Air burned her lungs and rattled from the volume her voice was at, shrieking out into the air and making the world tremble. It sounded horrendous, desperate, painful, and regretful. There was only one such occasion that had made Cain scream in such a painstaking way. Once...when mortality was still present within them.

She put both her hands back on the Helicarrier and started to pull herself back up to the top, each push being like a strain and pull against her body, working against her, wanting to take the fall instead of Abel. She fought against it and managed to grasp a hold of the tarmac and pushed back up, falling against it and breathing rough and heavily. Cain's fingers curled and crushed the floor under them until they suddenly began to shake. She snapped her head up towards the door, eyes glazed over with a sort of wickedness just barely scratching at the surface. She pulled herself to her feet and began to march back to the door, demolishing the surface of the tarmac with every stride she took.

* * *

_The bright twinkling stars danced in the sky as twilight flooded the lands and left the world shrouded with shadows. __The evening light shrunk away behind the mountains and left Cain to only wake up in darkness. She groaned and pushed herself up to a sitting position on the ground and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. They stung as she felt something wet touch her face, but nodded it off to be mud. _

_She didn't remember anything. Only bits and pieces. She vaguely remembers dragging her feet back to her home and calling to Abel about something. What it was about, she doesn't remember. The walk through the woods though was different. Everything was dark and blurry and any words Abel spoke were muddled together._

_"What...?" she mumbled in a raspy voice and stared down at what she was sitting on, knowing it wasn't the hard and cold floor. __Horror stained her eyes and her breathing was cut off in her throat to a short gasp. _

_Abel laid beneath her with a face swelled up and covered in red blood. She was so bruised and beaten up that it took Cain a moment to process who it was. She was only able to recognize that it was Abel by the clothes she was wearing. A white wool coat with a light blue cotton dress, what was left of it at least. It was torn and her skin underneath it was scratched up to look like an animal has done it. It looked like an animal had mauled her sister. _

_"Abel?" Cain's voice cracked and her mind went blank. Abel wasn't even responding much less moving. She was completely motionless. "Abel..."_

_Cain reached her hand out but stop dead in her tracks when she spotted blood on her hands, but not just a speck. Her hands and clothes were covered in it, absolutely drenched. It soaked right through to her skin and made this eerie chill run down her spine as her stomach turned._

_Cain grabbed Abel by her shoulders and began to shake her. "Abel!" she screamed out desperately. "Abel! Hey!" Her mind __twists and turned before shattering, much like her heart. Broken. What has she done? It's like someone ripped into her chest and took out her heart, smashing it right before her eyes. _

_She wanted to throw up but only dry heaved. __It felt like every ounce of life was sucked away from her body and left nothing but a shell of the woman she was once proud of. The one who made a vow to protect her sisters, but ended up being the one the break it with her own hands. Cain __stumbled to her feet and collapsed her hand over her mouth, dread seizing her skin like ice and leaving her frozen and stiff. She only stared silently down at her sister as her soul detached from her body. It didn't even feel real._

_She turned her body so fast her feet almost slipped on the muddy ground, fleeing into the darkest part of the forest where no light would shine upon her anymore. __She ran through the dark woodlands with bare feet through the rough briar patch that stuck to the soles of her heels. It felt hot and cold at the same time but her mind was too chaotic to even notice her bloody feet. Her lungs throbbed and her legs ached like she's been running for hours till she snagged on a root and tripped. She crashed into the ground on top of some wet grass and just laid there for a moment, breathing heavily with her mind spiraling in a world-pool of grief._

_"Oh, God...Oh...what have I done..." She scraped her fingers against the ground and pulled herself up. She trembled like a lost child drenched in water, looking around the dark woods to make sure no one saw her in this pitiful state. "No, no, no, no..."_

_Cain dropped her head into the ground and began to desperately rub her hands against the wet grass to try and get her sister's blood off. She rubbed and scrubbed till her hands were stained with mud and green grass. She lifted her head to the sound of running water and looked around, eyes piercing through the dark till she found a creek not so far away. Cain got up off the wet ground and dragged her feet over to the creek. She sat down in front of it and ran her bloody hands under the frigid water, scrubbing her hands till nothing remained. Not a speck of blood on her skin, nor pieces of flesh under her nail. She even drenched her own clothes in the cold water so she wouldn't have to feel the fresh warm blood._

_ It wasn't long till she slowly began to calm down and her breathing returned to normal, that until she saw her reflection in the water that was smoothing out. __To her hair that was once made of gold, now tangled up in a dirty and grimy mess, lips chapped and split open, and her eyes were red and deranged, deeply sunken in that gave her once lovely face a skeletal and haggard appearance. Cain took a good minute of silence to even recognize this creature staring back at her. __She slapped her hand into the water to disrupt the reflection._

_No words...could even come to describe what she was thinking. If she was thinking anything at all aside from this one prominent feeling that made her skin shiver, but not from the cold water._

_Disgust._

_Cain just wanted to hunker down and throw up everything in her stomach. Her throat was burning like lava and her stomach was twisting so much but nothing happened, which was worse. It sunk in and stayed there, distorting and turning around inside her until she understood...what she had just done._

_"God..." she said with a cracked voice of a thousand regrets. __A thousand? No...a million, maybe billions, or trillions. _

_Her entire body had just locked down there and then with all but one thought still running through her head. Cain got up off the ground and began to wander aimlessly through the woods with one picture in her mind, one destination. A place she had longed to see. It was a place where childhood dreams came true and where everything was much more pure and innocent. It was a land of golden wheat that bathed in the morning sunlight._

* * *

Thor felt the whole aircraft shift from one side to the other while making haste to the holding room that SHIELD kept Loki situated inside. There was no doubt in his mind that he was the cause for all this, already being at least ten steps ahead of everyone inside the Helicarrier, even going as far as to outsmart the immortals. Thinking about it though, Loki had to have known that Cain and her sisters would've been a bigger obstacle to get around and purposely made this much chaos just so he could scatter them long enough.

He cut the corners fast and went straight into the holding room that Loki was supposed to be in, but to his dismay, he saw his brother standing in front of his cell door as it slowly began to open up for him. "No!" Thor shouted and ran for the door. He tried to tackle Loki but his body flew right through him like a hologram. He got up quickly and turned around, seeing that the door had closed behind him and locked him inside the cage now. It was a trick, of course.

Loki stood on the outside of the cell and stared at Thor, somewhat disappointed by how easy it was. "Are you ever not going to fall for that?"

Thor clenched his jaw tightly and placed his hand against the glass that he knew was tough to break, but he didn't have one thought in his mind that he couldn't. He brought his arm back and swung his hammer down over the glass and created a spiderweb design of cracks, only for the whole box to shutter and groan like it was seconds away from falling. Thor's eyes widened immediately and he stopped right there, not daring to make another move and stepping back a bit. He began to feel his blood boil with rage.

Loki looked around the box and laughed with a large smile upon his face, utterly amused now. "The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" He walked over to the control box and lifted the latch on the drop button, dangerously hovering his fingers over it. His ears perked up though to the sound of heavy footsteps, loud and slow but gradually making their way over to him.

Cain slowly strolled into the room and brought a winter storm with her, so icy cold and terrifying that her appearance resembled one of a creature from another world. Her pupils were dilated so much that her eyes were black and sunken in badly. The golden hue of her skin tone was gone, nonexistent, and in its place was an ugly ashy color that made the veins in her arms very visible. Cain looked like death walking, a creature of unholy imagery that came straight from two emotions. She was nothing but a vessel for pure and untouched grief...and rage.

Loki felt himself begin to shift from reality as everything before his eyes looked like it was sinking away. He could try to convince himself that he wasn't afraid but then he would only be lying to himself, because without a shadow of a doubt...there was no person or creature on this planet who would not feel fear while standing in front of this woman.

Even Thor felt his heart shudder a bit, doubting his eyes that it was Cain standing before him right now. This was rage though, mixing together with an overwhelming amount of grief that combined itself into what she was right now, a husk of her former self, dying and being eaten up inside. His lips quivered and he even hesitated to call out to her but did so in the end. "Cain...? Cain, are you alright?"

Cain cranked her head over to the sound of his voice, so low but filled with so much concern that it was shaking. It was only a fraction, but light returned to her eyes. "Thor..." she said, not realizing how bad her voice sounded at the moment, croaked and dry from screaming so much. Her eyes stared back to Loki who was still holding his hand above the drop button. "If you click that button then you'll know what will happen to you, right?" Her low tone sent a shiver down his spine.

Loki tried to match her strong yet intimidating gaze. "Then you'll lose the man you love so dearly," he said with a mischievous smile, knowing he has her beat. "You take one more step, that is."

Her jaw clenched. She looked to Thor in the box and back to Loki. It would be different if he wasn't that close to the button, she could easily take him out. It wasn't like that though so there was no point in fantasizing about it. Cain knew that she couldn't do anything to stop him at this point without running the risk of losing Thor. Loki had her right where he wanted her, dancing in the palm of his hand like a puppet on strings...and it enraged her even more.

Loki's wicked grin stretched far across his face. "Where are your sisters? Don't tell me you lost them to the beast." This monster was someone who could probably end his life if she sees fit, but seeing her now, stuck in place was almost euphoric. "Look at you though. You're not used to this, are you? Not being on top. Not possessing the title of champion that you've held for all these years."

Cain scoffed. "You think I care for a title like '_champion_'? Don't try to play with me. I already know I'm no hero, or leader, or messiah."

"Oh...then you're a pariah?"

She shook her head and tipped her chin up, the golden glimmer of pride taking over her eyes. "No. All I ever wanted to be was an older sister. That's a title I will take for years to come...to the end of the world. Gladly." Shimmers of gold and chaos flickered across her eyes and darkened to the tone of her rough voice, much different then it was before. It sounded like a promise. "Even if you press that button. Even if you kill everyone aboard this craft. Even if you succeed in your plan. Just know this, Loki. Because the only thing that will be left in this world...will be immortals. The only thing that will be left...is me. And there will be nothing in this whole galaxy that can save you."

A gush of coldness made his heart freeze for a second as his fingers hovered over the button. Loki never broke eye contact with Cain and spoke calmly. "Let's see then."

He pressed the button and the box that had Thor inside slipped through the hole in the floor and fell out into the open air. Cain didn't think twice or say another word, running past Loki and completely ignoring him. She pulled her body low to the edge of the hole and pushed off, speeding out like an arrow in dead pursuit of the box.

The immediate sensation of falling was familiar within her bones that felt jagged and pressured from the air, her throat forcefully sucking down oxygen and making her lungs cringe and hurt. The sky twisted before her eyes and her body finally broke through the cloudline, seeing glimmering green farmlands as far as her eyes could see, close by an ocean too. She could see the tumbling box though as it approached the ground at an alarming rate. Cain outstretched her arms as she approached the box and grabbed a hold of the edge between the glass. She lifted her hand up in the air and pulled her hand down into a fist, waiting for the exact moment for Thor to fly over in her direction. She then slammed her fist right into the glass and shattered it completely with little resistance and managed to grab ahold of his arm, ripping him from his glass prison just as the ground approached them.

"HOLD ON!" Cain's shattering voice belted out from her lungs.

She pulled him tight and braced herself for the impact. It was only a fraction of a second that her back made contact with the ground, but also caused her natural ability to kick in and break their fall, releasing a shockwave out from the point of impact and made the ground blow them shiver and crack for miles. Cain was finally able to release Thor as their bodies were flung across the rough terrain, uplifting roots and kicking up mounds of dirt before eventually, at long last, coming to a final halt. They were covered in bruised, miles away from each other, but still alive.

Cain rolled around to her back and felt her broken bones inside her body poke and prod at her organs before mending back together shortly after. She clenched tightly down on her teeth and sat up, staring up at the sky and seeing the Helicarrier flying further away and completely out of her reach now. She clicked her tongue when it dawned on her that Seth was still up there. "Damnit."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Oh! I'm so happy I managed to get this chapter out early. It really wasn't that hard to write since I already had a rough draft for it. And that flashback scene was actually a last-minute add on. So hopefully you liked it. **

**It was an interesting play for BOTH Cain and Abel to leave the Helicarrier, not to mention Coulson didn't die in this, so there no motivation for the Avengers to continue, right? Wrong. Don't forget. We still have Seth aboard. **

**I'm sorry. I got too into the gore, but what do you expect from me at this point. If you know me then you know I get into it with John Wick and Hellsing.**

**Anyway. It's been a long time but don't worry, I haven't given up on this story. But just take in the fact that I have over 9 other stories that I need to work on as well. I take one story for one week and work on a chapter. That's my schedule now. And you can see my schedule on my profile too if you wanna know when I'll post the next chapter.**

**That's all I have to say for now. Stay inside, wash your hands, and take care of yourselves out there. **


	13. Three Times The Anger

**THREE TIMES THE ANGER**

Banner's body felt sluggish and heavy. His limbs were made of led and his mind was hazy with these memories that weren't even his, belonging to the other guy who luckily wasn't in control anymore. He tried to take in a deep breath but only inhaled dust that tickled his throat and made him cough. God, everything was burning. Even breathing was painful. Banner didn't even know where he was, much less did he know what happened back on the Helicarrier. He knew one thing though...he believed he might've dragged someone off when he fell. Who it was, he still wasn't sure.

"Oh?" There was the sound of shifting rubble getting closer to him that soon followed by the world's softest and comforting voice. It was Abel speaking to him, the rhythm of her words rolling off her tongue and sending his trembling heart into a state of near-perfect calmness. "You're awake?"

Banner's eyes cracked open and sunlight bled through and blinded him. It was only for a fraction of a second though before a large shadow cast over him and saved his eyes from being stung. Everything adjusted for him and he found himself staring upwards into Abel's beautiful brown gaze, sparkling with enchantment and concern. "Abel...?" He blinked the grogginess from his eyes and sat up, trying everything in his power to surpass the mind-splitting headache that was pounding against his skull. He quickly looked down at himself and was thankful to see that his indecency was covered by Abel's jacket. It took him another few seconds before speaking again. "I'm sorry but...what happened?" he croaked out with his dry voice.

He could finally see her now and how scuffed up she really looked. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were disheveled, spotted with rips and blood. Her skin was discolored too from the thin layers of dust that came from the rubble. But of course, she didn't have a single injury on her body and was completely fine. He knew it was beyond a miracle though and figured it had to have been from her high regeneration ability. He couldn't even imagine what it must've been like for her before recovery kicked in. The place around them was a mess so It had to have been a nasty fall to create this much damage from the point of impact.

Abel blinked a few as her eyes softened. She looked kind and understanding, which was a relief compared to would he must've done to her. "Let's just say...me and the other guy had a sort of...tussle, and we both ended up falling out of the aircraft. Unfortunately, though, it was a long way down so it's completely out of my range now. I can't get back up." She tilted her chin and looked up at the hole in the ceiling that they crashed through. Fortunately, they had crash-landed through a warehouse that didn't seem to have anyone around. Abel could tell that no one else was inside, aside from them.

Banner looked at her with shame clouding his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." He tightened his fist just as Abel placed her small and dainty hand gently on his shoulder. It was a strong grasp but also a kind response, almost as reassuring as her smile.

"Don't think too much into it. You weren't in control of yourself." Her voice was soft but it had a firmness to it that made Banner stiffen up. "My family and I...we may be immortal creatures but we can't predict what will happen. We can only prepare and move on." She looked down at what she was holding in her hands and handed it over to Banner. They were spare clothes she found in some lockers when she was looking around. "I'll tell you this though...Loki sure got us. He even managed to deceive my elder sister long enough to pull off a stunt like this. I'm impressed but also kinda irritated." Her kind tone didn't match her words since she was still smiling, though he was noticing that it seemed forced.

Abel wasn't happy right now. She was quite angry at the moment and was just fairly good at hiding it. Still, it slipped a little so Banner noticed. It made him shiver because the thought of an angry immortal just seemed so disturbing to him.

* * *

After what seemed to be an hour, things eventually calmed down and people went back to work to try to find where Loki went and where the Tesseract was hidden, though the hunt for the cube had been set back since the lab was somewhat destroyed during the attacked. Initially, it took Tony, Abel, and Banner a good amount of time to put everything together, only to lose the location when the fire spread up from the vents and into the room. It was a tremendous loss but people were still working and trying to salvage as much as they could.

Steve and Seth wandered into the lab for the first time since the attack. The place was covered in scorch marks and the computers were badly damaged or shattered. Tony was inside too, sitting on the desk with a solemn look in his eyes. He appeared to be holding something too. It was a somewhat damaged phone that Seth figured to be Abel's.

Steve was hesitant to talk to him but only because he was feeling guilty for what he said to him, about Tony not caring if Abel got hurt. He could see that it wasn't true by the look in his eyes and the heaviness that enclosed around him. "You alright?" he asked calmly, very gentle and sincere.

Seth ignored their conversation and walked over to the computers that were damaged but not as bad as they initially looked.

Tony's heart ached and he felt this sense of loneliness surrounding him. "Not really." He took in a deep breath and felt his lungs burning from the smell of smoke. "It's just...when your girlfriend keeps taking the fall for you...It kinda gets disheartening after a while." After he figured out what happened to Abel, well, it felt like his entire body just shut down there and then. He stopped caring about Loki. He stopped caring about the cube.

For Steve, Tony's comments immediately made the guilt harder for him to bear, so he knew he had to apologize. He was in the wrong, he'll admit it. He made a claim about him when in reality, it wasn't true. Steve still didn't know a single thing about their relationship and what they probably had to go through to still be together.

Abel was beyond special to him, he could easily see that now.

"Tony, I'm sorry. I said some awful things about your relationship with Abel and...I just wanna apologize for it." Steve said with a great deal of gentleness in his voice. "I know how much you care about her."

"Thanks, I guess..." Tony said half-heartedly. "You know...I always felt like it was my job to protect her but...that had never been the case. Abel was always the one to take the fall and I...I'm just tired of seeing it happen."

Seth's voice was velvet smooth but the words she suddenly spoke seemed cruel and cold. "Yeah, well...you mind getting over it? We still got work to do." It was almost if she lacked empathy when they knew she didn't, but just hearing her say those words made Steve ad Tony shudder a bit.

Tony's jaw tightened and he hopped off the desk. "I'm sorry, but what the hell did you just say?"

"Hey," Steve was going to chime in to stop a fight from breaking out but Tony immediately placed his hand up and stopped him right there.

"No. Hold on for a minute," he said and marched over to Seth. The lady was almost frighteningly calm about the situation, eyes narrowed and without concern. "How in the living hell can you worry about something else at a time like this?"

Seth cocked a brow and turned her chin up. "It's because I can see the bigger picture here, Stark. You're acting like Abel's dead when she's not. My sisters are just grounded right now. That's all. So how about you straighten yourself up and do something."

"Do something-" This surprised Tony right to his very core and he had to step back a bit, studying Seth for a moment. "You're a piece of work, you know that?

She only rolled her eyes and went back to her computer inspection. "I've been called worse."

"It's your family!" Tony finally shouted but his voice was nothing compared to the rumble the table made when Seth slammed her fist over it, promptly cracking the surface but also silencing Tony.

"Yes, but you seem to be the only one who can't understand that death is temporary!" Seth was shaking and looked seconds away from totally losing it but surprisingly she didn't. She took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment and opened them once more as calmness swiped across her cerulean gaze. She looked an awful lot like her sisters right now. It was almost astounding. She had Cain's firm stare but Abel's delicate features. "No matter how awful it may be, it's normalized for us. Don't you dare assume that I don't love my family when I had literally done everything for them in the past, even going as far as to die for them...just as they've done for me. I know they're alright. I know they're alive." Her voice was low but not seething. Seth sounded like she was struggling. As if she was trying to convince herself of a fact that she knew to be true.

Her sisters were always alright. Her family was always alright. Seth says it is normalized but at the same time, no one likes seeing their loved ones get hurt. That was just normal for a family. Immortal or not.

Steve finally saw the chance to step in when neither Tony or Seth were speaking anymore. "Seth, that's enough. You made your point so step back a bit," he said firmly, and luckily, Seth didn't pursue. At least she knows when to step away. "What are you trying to do?" he said to get off-topic.

Seth bit the inside of her lips and looked away from him, going back to her assessment on the computers. "Seeing if I can get them up and going again. The location of the cube was on it, so if we can get it to turn on...bam! We'll know where Loki and the cube are," she proclaimed a bit light-heartedly, which is something the room desperately needed to ease the stress coming from her and Tony, though it seemed a bit laxer now.

"It's not that simple," Tony said and shook his head, still refusing to look her in the eyes but having her words play on repeat in his head.

"It would be simple if I wasn't lacking in the knowledge to do something like this. I can figure it out, yeah, but I don't wanna drag things out anymore then they have to be." Seth sounded somewhat urgent now. "You can disagree with me all you want, but I still need your help."

Tony still looked reluctant to help. He fought with it since his concerns were still on Abel, but thinking about it though...she probably would've sucked it up and continued working despite seeing her family get hurt. Finding the people responsible for the crime was more important so they would never do it again. With that in mind, he decided to let it go. "Fine. Step back, Stone-age." He moved up around Seth and towards the computers.

Seth's eyes fell down to the phone in his hand. "That's Abel's phone, right?" She offered her hand out and flexed her fingers to silently tell him to hand it over. "Gimme."

"You can't get in. Its password blocked." Tony said and placed it in Seth's open hand.

She scoffed and turned the phone on, thankful that it was still working. "Not for me it ain't."

* * *

Cain strolled carefully towards the rocky shore that overlooked the vast sea, shining like millions of blue gems that stretched out further than her inhuman eyesight could see. She reached down and picked up a handful of rocks and just started chucking them out into the ocean. She could see them crash into the water and sink into the depths.

For once in her life, Cain didn't know what to do and where to go from here. She never recalled if she had ever felt this way before and her mind had never been this empty until now. She was so used to her head surging with thoughts, plans, and ideas that the silence and stillness felt incredibly eerie to her.

Thor watched Cain's back from a distance and had a weird feeling while looking at her. For some reason, he thought that she looked lost. The air was still and didn't have the heavy feeling of dread, but it was the fact that things were lacking is what made him worry for her. He looked back to his hammer that laid on the ground and went to pick it up, stopping inches away from the handle. He bit down on his lips and clenched his hand tightly, pulling it away and walking over to Cain, just as she sat down on a large rock.

He sat down next to her. "Are you alright?" he asked, hesitant and nervous.

Cain didn't look angry like she did back on the aircraft, which was relieving, but it was still obvious that she didn't feel well. "In what are we referring to? Mentally or physically? Physically, I feel fine. Mentally though...I don't know. This whole situation kinda feels odd to me." she said rather calmly, resting her head against her hand.

"Odd?" Thor blinked.

Cain bit down hard on her lips and dropped her head. "I hate to say it but your brother was right about me," she said, voice muffled by the sleeve of her jacket.

Thor flinched and began to shake his head, grabbing Cain by her shoulder to grasp her attention. "No. That's not true. My brother...he lies and manipulates people. That's just what he does best. He was just...playing with everyone, getting into our heads." He sighed and looked out towards the ocean. The sound of the crashing waves reached his ears and brought him a false sense of relief. He knew it was fake but didn't care. He'll take any kind of comfort he can get.

"It's been a long time since I've seen manipulation skills on that large of a scale." Cain's voice had a chilling kind of honesty behind it but what followed was this sadness. "What I meant though...your brother was right about me being a champion. Hit the nail right on the head with that one, actually."

This confused him. "I'm not sure I understand."

"I've been alive for millions of years now and had never faced someone who could challenge me. There was no one on this planet who could even remotely make me bend my knee. I was just an unstoppable force...until now." Cain clicked her tongue and sharpened her eyes. "Now look at me, outsmarted by one puny god and his mind games." She groaned loudly and leaned her head far back until she was looking up at the sky. "He was right...I'm not use to being knocked down like this."

This was strange and Thor honestly didn't know what to think. He can sympathize with her feelings though and understand where she was coming from. He too had been given great strength and hadn't had a real trial until now. "I'm sorry this happened to you," he said earnestly. "This...is just how my brother is. It's why I'm jealous of the bond you have with your siblings. Looking at you talk to them, have friendly banter...it's everything I wished I had with Loki."

Cain smiled, a bit proud and prideful, actually. "So you never once had fun times with him?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not entirely. We were close, once, but that was a very long time ago." Thor broke out in a smile. "One time, we had this thing, an act that we would call '_Get Help_'. Have you heard of it?"

This piqued Cain's curiosity and her eyes turned up. "Can't say I have. Maybe I'll have a different variation though? What is it?"

Thor was laughing a bit while trying to explain himself. His laughter was bright and it made Cain's heart flutter a bit. It really must've been a happy memory for him, she thought. "Well, it's when I would pretend to act like my brother was dying to an enemy, and when they would least expect it...I would fling Loki at them."

In an instant, all curiosity faded from her eyes and she just stared at him, dully, flatly. It literally took a whole minute of complete silence for her to process what he had just said. "You...you mean to tell me...you would physically throw your own brother at people?" her voice suddenly cracked.

Thor furrowed his brows at the genuine confusion across Cain's eyes. "Yes. It was funny. Have you done it before?"

"Not once," she said bluntly. "But...It does sound like something Seth would do, to be honest."

Cain was really beginning to pity Thor at this point. She knew her relationship with her sisters wasn't perfect. She always felt blessed to be able to joke around with them though, laugh as if there was no tomorrow. She could hear the love in their voices and through their actions, filling her to the brim with glee. Thor though, he might've had something like that in the past but it was so far off that the memories seemed like dreams to him now. He was jealous, no doubt, but he also heavily respected Cain and her sisterly ties.

An unexpected ringing sound suddenly caught Cain off guard and made her jump, eyes wide with disbelief. It was a chiming kind of noise, an old and classic ring from a phone that was coming from the inside of her jacket. "You can't be serious?" she said and reached into her coat, unzipping the inside pocket and pulling it out. Sure enough, it was scratched up and cracked a bit but still ringing. It was even saying that Abel was calling her. "Abel?"

"What is that noise?" Thor asked, confused and a bit concerned with the way Cain was reacting.

"My phone," she muttered. "It was in my jacket pocket. I never thought it would survive the fall." She answered it as fast as she could and held it to her ear. "Hello?"

An overly eager voice blasted through the phone and made Cain's ears strain. She was expecting to hear Abel's soft voice and not Seth's loud one, so it startled her a bit. "On, great! Your phone ain't dead!" she exclaimed. There was definitely a hint of a smile in her voice.

"Seth?" Cain got up and moved off the rocky shore. Thor followed close behind after he heard who it was. "How did you get into your sister's phone? Its password blocked."

"Yeah, ah-huh. 0-0-0-0 is really creative." Her voice was riddled with bleeding sarcasm that definitely would've hurt Abel's feelings if she heard. "I never thought it would be so easy to get into an immortal's private phone. Next time, tell her to think of something a lot harder to figure out."

Words couldn't describe how happy she had been to hear that Seth was fine. No doubt that she wasn't, but it was the unknown that scared her. "What's the situation upstairs right now? You guys alright? Rogers? Stark? What about them?"

"Yeah. We're alright," she said confidently. "Just working to get the lab up and going again to try and figure out where that stupid god went."

Cain furrowed her brows because she could only remember that place being engulfed by flames. "It was destroyed though, wasn't it?"

"Not entirely. Stark's working on it right now. Even if we can't keep it going for long, all we really need is the coordinates to where the cube is," Seth said.

Cain thought it over and search deep within her old memories to see if there was an alternate path they could take. She couldn't find anything though. They were low of resources and contact was limited. Not to mention her family was scattered too. Seth was the only one who seemed to have a decent plan. "I see." She sighed softly and closed her eyes for a brief moment. "Please try and hurry though. I fear we may not have a whole lot of time left. If Loki is going to bring an army to win him the world...then it's going to be a mess to clean up."

Seth scoffed. "We're already cleaning up Fury's mess so what's the difference?" she said flatly and made the edges of Cain's lips turned up into a threatening smile. "What about Abe and Banner?" Seth brought up.

"Those two were the only ones who saw the location before we were attacked. Abel's probably planning things out too, just like we are. We'll leave them be for now and worry about our situation first." Cain ordered and wandered through the grassy meadows and over to the quiet hammer. "Seth, I'm leaving the rest to you. Let me know when you get things up and going and get the location. We need to move fast from here on out. Do you understand me?"

Seth's voice was usually steady after pausing for a few seconds. "Yes, Sister. I'll call you later," she said before hanging up.


	14. The Age Of Immortals Is Over

**THE AGE OF IMMORTALS IS OVER**

"What do you mean you can't turn it back on?" Steve stared dumbfounded at Seth with his mouth hung open. He didn't even know whether to take her seriously on not since she said it so casually. Not to mention, she didn't look worried in the slightest, just slightly annoyed by the urgent tone in his voice.

"I didn't freaking say that. Relax, will you?" Seth turned up a brow and pointed back towards Tony. They saw him working diligently on a computer and was trying to get a picture up on the screen. He had the box open and was rearranging the wires. Some of them had to be replaced though with what he had on hand. "I said that once it's turned on, it will stay on for only a fraction of a second before shutting down. The components inside are too damaged to sustain a full picture," she explained once again, saying it a bit too plainly for Steve's liking.

"Then how are you going to find the cube?" He clenched his jaw and tried not to lose his composure.

Seth stared bewildered at him. She lifted her arms and slapped them back down at her side. "Did you not hear a word I said? Truth be told, you wouldn't have a snow ball's chance in hell if you didn't have me with you. All I need is a fraction of a second to check out the location." She patted him on the shoulder and shoved him towards the door. "Quit standing there like that. You're freaking me out. Go get Romanoff or whoever the hell you want. Suit up. We're leaving in a couple of minutes."

Steve raised his hands and didn't complain about her pushy behavior, now understanding that he really had to start taking her words and trusting them. She hadn't let him down before so why should she now? "Fine. We'll meet up in the hanger. Just make sure you get the location."

She flashed him a cheeky grin and winked. "Yes, dear." Seth shoved him out of the room and closed the door behind him. She turned her head around and strolled over to Tony to see how he was doing. There was a mass horde of burned up wires on the floor and the inside of the box wasn't any better looking either. "You got everything ready?"

"Yeah, but make sure you're staring right at the screen," Tony reminded her and stood up from behind the table. "This is our only chance. It won't come on again after this." He grabbed two exposed wires in his hands and held them close together but not yet touching. Once they do, Seth will only have a fraction of a second to check out the location and figure out where the cube is. "Ready when you are."

Seth stood in front of the screen and glued her eyes to it, waiting patiently. "Go," she ordered.

Tony stuck the two ends together and they immediately sparked. The screen hummed and flashed a bright picture that seemed to resemble a map. The picture lasted for exactly a fraction of a second though before cutting off and turning black. He did it a few more times but nothing happened after that. The wires didn't spark and the screen remained dead. That was it. That was their only chance.

Seth was unfazed while she blinked a couple of times, completely soundless but appeared to be thinking. Curiosity crossed over the azure hue in her eyes before she turned around and reached for Abel's phone in her pocket. "Manhattan," she spoke while turning it on and flipping through the contacts.

"What?"

She looked over at him. "Loki and the cube are in Manhattan. The map's unfamiliar to me though," she grumbled with a deep frown. "Are there any places that are relatively new to the area. Ones with high altitudes?"

Tony stared at her briefly when one place occurred to him. One that he knew very well. His jaw slacked and his shoulders immediately slouched over. "Son of a bitch." he mumbled under his breath and rushed towards the door.

"Wow, hold on! Mind telling me what's going on?" Seth called back to him and looked confused.

"I'll tell you later. I gotta get my things. Go on ahead. I'll meet you there," he said and disappeared down the hallway.

* * *

Cain sat silently on a large boulder that laid in the middle of a field right beside the ocean. The sound of the waves crashed against her ears and settled her anxious heart as she waited calmly for her sister to call her back, clutching her phone in her hand and counting the seconds as they rolled by. It's already been an hour so she figured it won't be long until it buzzed.

During the time, Thor had wandered back over to his hammer that had been undisturbed the whole time. Unmoving and soundless. He looked as if he was going to reach for it but hesitated each time. Almost as if he was afraid he wasn't going to be able to lift it.

Cain noticed that he seemed to develop quite an interesting habit of self-doubting himself. It was almost to the point of him looking more human in her eyes than that of a god. "Hm. So even gods have those kinds of emotions," she mumbled to herself, though a bit too loudly since it looked like Thor heard her and turned around.

"What do you mean?" he asked and strolled up to her.

She looked taken back for a time before frowning. "You're a god...yet you doubt yourself so much." She looked up at his eyes that were focused solely on her, listening intently and generally curious about what she had to say.

"I'm not sure I understand..." Thor shook his head, becoming confused.

"That habit of yours is very human-like. I find it odd, really." Cain tilted her head and kept her eyes pinned on him. "I don't know why I thought this way but it's probably because I've only been around humans." She then spoke up but her tone sounded anxious, which caught Thor off guard. "I would say you're the first god I ever met...but you're really not."

"I'm not? I would never have thought." This truly surprised him but the way Cain said it made him slightly nervous. "Who was it?" He was uneasy just as much as she was by the question.

Cain pulled her head up and looked away, appearing to ponder hard on something. Something old, dusty, and painful. "The one who looked at me...and saw disappointment." Her voice was deep with the last words she spoke, feeling like a sharp weapon in Thor's gut. "It was the person who made me the way I am now. Made my family the way they are." Her eyes narrowed and turned up at the sky that was sparse with clouds. "It was a god who rises above all."

Thor furrowed his brows. "And you've met this person before?"

"Technically, no. My mother and father...they had to have come from somewhere though, right? We all had to have come from some being higher than the rest of us. That person, as my religion refers to them as...is God." In her memories, it was only her and her sisters alone in the world for quite some time. Her parents were there too but that was very brief. Abel hardly remembers them anymore and Seth was only a baby when they finally passed. "I never met him personally, face to face, but I know someone like that exists."

Thor never thought about it that way, but for some reason, the idea infuriated him quite a bit. "If what you say is true...then why is he just letting all of this happen? Death, destruction, war. Why is he silent?"

If someone like that does exist, why would he put such a heartbreaking curse on Cain in her family? He understands the sin that she committed and the guilt that comes from it, but immortality felt too harsh of a punishment.

"God is not on our side, Thor." She closed her eyes briefly and groaned. "Well, that's what I believe at least. I think I understand his silence. After all, the ones who always start something were us. Death. The destruction. The decades upon decades of war. The shot in the dark... We're the ones living in this galaxy. Why would he fix something that he didn't even start? And if that isn't the case than...maybe he's just waiting for certain things to happen."

"What do you mean?" Thor blinked.

"Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?"

He shook his head. "No. Can't say I have."

"Hm. It's a curious thing that really makes you pause and think. Let me explain it like this: With the flap of their frail wings, history was made. This term is typically used to describe that even our seemingly insignificant changes can cause major events to happen in the near or distant future. We don't know if it's for the best or not. Be it fate or just unfortunate really only depends on the person who caused it. And that is what we called the butterfly effect. Maybe we're simply just butterflies waiting to make our seemingly insignificant change that will gradually grow bigger as time moves on. Everything happens for a reason, Thor. Maybe this is it."

A while back, Abel once told her a story about Tony. She said that he decided he didn't want to ride with Rhodey when they were in Afghanistan and took a different car. He was then ambushed and kidnapped, which let up to him meeting Abel in a cave.

Thor's mouth gaped open and he became completely ashen. "I...I don't like that. So you're saying I only have to-"

"Don't slip on a leaf because who knows what will happen," Cain looked down and saw Thor treading carefully on the ground, trying not to accidentally step on a leaf. "Hey," she chuckled a bit and called out to him, reaching down and kissing him on the side of the head.

Thor felt his pulse spike as his hands began to tremble. It was childish that he would always react the same way every time but he couldn't help it. He cherished everything about this woman. Her smile was intoxicating and her vanilla scent was addictive. "Cain...I," he muttered before stopping when he heard her phone go off.

Cain picked her phone up and answered it. "Seth?" She waited silently as her sister spoke to her in hushed tones. Thor watched as her face slowly contorted and become dangerous once she pulled her phone down. "Found the cube. It's time to go," she said in a steely voice.

Thor took in a deep breath and bowed his head. He turned back to his hammer and walked over to it. He felt his throat lock up with nervousness as his hand reached out to the handle, wrapping his fingers around it. The air became humid as blue sparks of electricity rippled through the skies and flowed through his veins. The clouds darkened and thunder roared in the distance when he picked his hammer up gently. In an instant, lightning spilled out from the sky and struck down, immersing him in bright blue lights.

* * *

Steve hurried down the long white halls and took a turn into one of the medical rooms that Natasha was inside, waiting on the bed and gazing off towards the bathroom. "Time to go," he said.

She cocked a brow and stared at him. "Go where?"

"I'll tell you on the way. We need to meet Seth at the hanger. She knows where the cube is. Can you fly one of those jets?"

Just then, the bathroom door opened up and Clint Barton walked out. "I can." His face was slightly withered with exhausted from the mind control, but he looked willing. "Seth's go the location?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah." He glanced off to Natasha to get confirmation that he was going to be alright, in which she confirmed with a slight nod. "You got a suit?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Then suit up."

* * *

Seth waited by the door leading into the hanger room and tapped her foot impatiently against the ground. She was counting down the minutes until she wouldn't be able to stand it anymore. She would go with Tony alone if she had too, but luckily though, it didn't come to that. She turned her head up to footsteps to her right and saw Steve, Natasha, and Clint heading over to her. All in which were suited up and ready to leave.

"Sure took your freaking time," Seth smirked and headed into the hanger with Steve walking beside her. "Did it really take you that long to get ready?"

"Yeah, and what about you? You're not getting dressed," he said sarcastically and felt Seth jab her elbow in his side.

"Please. I could go in a nightgown and it still won't make a difference. I'm still gonna kick that stupid god's teeth in the first chance I get." she said dryly and it didn't look like she was joking either. Seth turned her head up and saw Steve smiling slightly like he was trying not to laugh.

"Remind me. I would actually like to see that."

She smiled and winked at him. "Honey, I can get you front row seats if you ask me nicely."

They walked over to one of the jets but were briefly stopped by a young pilot standing in their way when he noticed them. "Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be here," he said.

Seth cocked a brow and stared dumbfounded at this youngling. "When had immortals ever gave a crap about that?" She set a hand on his shoulder and moved him gently to the side. "Authorization doesn't apply to my family." Seth walked into the jet with the rest of the team while giving the young pilot a pat on the shoulder.

* * *

The clouds parted and the jet flew steadily into Manhattan's airspace. It was an island made entirely of concrete with buildings so tall they could scrape across heaven. It was Seth's first time being back and the sight of the place totally overruled her old memories of it. It didn't even look the same anymore. Instead of it being a city, it looked more like an inescapable maze. She could see beyond that though was one building in particular that looked very odd to her. Stark Tower.

"Man...that is one ugly building," she muttered disappointingly. "I'm afraid to ask who designed it."

She turned her head out the window and saw Tony flying by in his beaten up Iron Man suit. The thrusters in his legs were starting to give out and he could barely sustain flight while heading towards his tower. He spotted the Tesseract on the rooftop encased within the CMS device that Erik Selvig was tending too.

"Sir, I took off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustained," Jarvis said.

Tony flew up to Erik and hovered there. He saw the man's eyes and noticed that the mind control was still active. There was an odd shimmer of unfamiliar blue within them. "Shut it down, Dr. Selvig."

Erik turned around. "It's too late! It can't stop now. He wants to show us something! A new universe." he said with an unnatural smile on his face.

"Okay." Tony saw the crazy as clear as day and lifted his hands. He blasted at the device but the energy abruptly bounced off it like a force field and fired back, knocking Erik backwards.

Jarvis studied it. "The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable."

"Yeah, I got that." He glanced down and spots Loki standing on the balcony with his scepter in hand. "Plan B." He slowly began to lower himself to the ground.

"Sir, the Mark 7 is not ready for deployment," Jarvis warned him.

"Then skip the spinning rims. We're on the clock." He lands on the gauntlet and starts to walk inside as his device stripped him of his suit, leaving him totally defenseless in front of the god, much to Loki's enjoyment.

Loki wandered back inside and laughed a bit under his breath. "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." A wicked grin stretched to his face like a mischievous cat getting into trouble.

"Nah, that would be Abel's thing." Tony shrugged and strolled over to the open bar. "Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you."

"You should've kept your armor on for that, or bring your immortal friends with you." Loki gestured with his scepter.

"Yeah, it'll probably be better if I brought Seth, but knowing her...I decided against it." He searched through the cabinets and pulled out a glass and a bottle with some liquor in it. "Would you like a drink? It's one from Abel's collections. She got it in Italy back in 1997."

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no. Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."

Loki's face scrunched up and he looked puzzled at what Tony was trying to do. He would expect this sort of arrogant behavior from the immortal family, but not this man who was drinking right in front of him. "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?" he spoke confidently.

Tony popped open the bottle. "The Avengers." He looked up and saw Loki growing confused. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demi-god." Loki scoffed and looked away, giving Tony the moment to slip metal bands around his wrists. "A super-soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breath-taking anger management issues. An immortal family who happens to be the scariest people in the world to mess with. A couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

Loki shrugged and didn't even break a sweat. "That was the plan."

"Not a great plan." Tony picked up his glass and walked out from around the bar. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We got Cain," Tony shot back instantly. "And a Hulk as a bonus."

"I thought the creatures have wandered off."

"You're missing the point. There is no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you." He walked down the stairs and met him face to face, setting his glass down on the table beside him. "Because if we can't protect the earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki's eyes narrowed and he began to walk towards him, menace boiling up in his eyes. "How will your friends have time for me? When they're so busy fighting you?" Loki raised his scepter and tapped the end against Tony's chest.

PING!

This caused him to become perplexed. Loki didn't know what that odd sound was and why the mind control wasn't working, so he tapped his scepter against his chest one more time to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He heard that noise again but nothing happened. "This usually works."

Tony shrugged. "Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon. One out of five-" he was cut off when Loki flung him against the ground. "Jarvis. Anytime now," he struggled out and tried to get up.

Loki picked him up by his neck and hissed sharply in his ear. "The age of immortals is over. They will all fall before me. As will you!"

"Deploy," he gasped. "Deploy!"

Loki held him up in the air and hurled him through the window and out of the tower. He later began to hear the sound of something powering up and turned around just in time to see a red pod shoot out from the wall. It nearly missed Loki and flew down in pursuit after Tony. Lazers popped out and scanned around until they found the metal bands on his arms. The suit started to unlatched and wrap around his body, and before he could hit the ground, the thrusters fired up and managed to stop his descent. Tony turned around swiftly and flew back towards the tower.

The new suit worked like a charm, courtesy from Abel since she designed and worked on this one herself.

He flew up towards the window and hovered there, the coils of red and gold wrapping around his body and shimmering under the sun with complete perfection. "And there's another thing." Loki raised his scepter but Tony was faster and blasted him, throwing the god back. "That's for attacking my girlfriend."

A stream of blue light shot out from the active CMS device and fired up into the sky, ripping open a large hole in space. The Chitauri, unforeseen creatures slipped through the portal like poison through an open wound, traveling on strange chariots, and armed with bayonets and energy rifles. Their numbers were by the thousands and far exceeded the Avengers.

Tony stared up at the sky with wide eyes and couldn't believe what he was looking at. "Right. Army." The screen inside his helmet changed instantly over to battle mode.

* * *

The sky was lit up with vivid shades of blue as the hole in space stretched wide with creatures from another world dropping through. Abel could now hear the scream as clear as day. Women, children, men. She stood outside of the warehouse with her mouth gaped open, stunned, and unsure of what to do.

"Dear God in heaven. What is this?" she gasped and covered her mouth with her hands when she spotted a familiar red suit flying around underneath the crack. There were flashes of bright lights with chariot riders falling out of the sky. Tony was already there. Already fighting.

Banner came out of the warehouse shortly after getting dressed and saw the chaos happening within the sky. "What...? What is all this?" He looked just as stunned as Abel did.

"A rip in space. The portal. We're too late," she muttered. Abel was clenching her hands so tightly that her skin turned white while her fingernails cut into her palms. The blood was warm and steamy. "Tony's already there, so Seth and them shouldn't be far behind either."

Banner looked between the portal and back to Abel. He knew that she needed to go. She needed to try and stop whatever war that just begun. "Do you need to leave? Because if you do...don't worry about me." He saw her eyes grow wide and could easily make out the design of her brown irises.

"Dr. Banner, a hole had just opened up in the sky. Are you sure you want me to leave you?"

"We're all heading in the same direction anyway." Banner frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "It'll probably be best if you leave first and help them. I'll head there...eventually," he grumbled.

Abel hesitated and shifted her body in two different directions like she was being pulled by an invisible force. She knew that Banner was right though. She needed to get down there and make sure that Tony was alright and the people of Manhattan wouldn't get in the way. "Alright..." She took in a deep breath and gripped his shoulders tightly. "Take care of yourself and I'll see you soon."


	15. Power Of Nine

**POWER OF NINE**

Smoke billowed off the top of the Manhattan skyscrapers as Loki walked out onto the balcony of Stark Tower, listening with delight while distant explosions rattled his eardrums. He watched with an intense gaze at the destruction that was caused by the Chitauri laying waste to the island and the innocent people within. Not a single person could rival their high-tech weapons and the only thing they could do was run for cover and stay away from the buildings that were starting to crumble with pieces of shattered glass windows falling into the streets.

Loki soon stiffened up when he heard a loud crash right beside him and looked over, seeing Cain land heavy on the neighboring balcony right below him. He saw that her eyes were darkened with brewing fury that seeped out when she spoke. "You...what did you do!?" Her voice resonated into this booming echo like cracking thunder.

Loki felt instant panic and stumbled back just when his brother finally arrived and jumped down between them, almost acting like a barrier to stop Cain from decimating him on the spot. "Loki!" Thor announced strongly and pointed his hammer up towards the rumbling CMS device. "Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!" he threatened.

"You can't." Loki raised his scepter and pointed threateningly down at the two. "There is no stopping it. There is only the war!"

Cain grit down hard on her teeth as her eyes grew fierce but ready for the war that Loki had brought upon her family and planet. She reached out to Thor's shoulder and pulled him aside. "I warned you...and you didn't listen." She balled her fists and prepared herself just when Loki jumped down with his scepter raised above her head, ready to strike. He was slow in Cain's eyes though so she moved swiftly and grabbed the weapon with one hand, twisting it out of the way to rotate her leg up and swiping him across the face.

* * *

Seth moved up to the front of the quinjet and looked out towards Stark Tower. She could see faint movement on the balcony before making out the blaze of golden hair against sunlight with a red cape blending in against the blur. "Cain and Thor are already there," she said.

Natasha squinted her eyes but still couldn't make out anything since they were still far away. "You sure?"

Seth nodded her head and breathed deeply. "Yeah. I know her anywhere," she grumbled under her breath. "Man...it's gonna be a long day."

They arrived in the city that was in an uproar and every little sound made Seth's eardrums strain because of her overly sensitive hearing. She could make out everything. From peoples screaming to buildings crumbling.

"Stark, we're on your three, heading northeast," Natasha called in.

"What, did you stop for drive-thru?" Tony snapped back. "Swing up park. I'm going to lay them out for you." He flew by his tower and caught a glimpse of Cain and Thor fighting against Loki. They were also trying to avoid the energy blasts that came from his scepter that caused some of the letters to fall from the tower.

A minigun mounted on the quinjet dropped down and waited for Tony to fly by before open firing at the chariot riders that were in hot pursuit. The bullets blasted through the air as the jet swerved up towards Stark Tower where they saw Loki quickly losing ground against Cain. The jet was going to fire down at him but Loki looked up and spotted them. He raised his scepter and blasted a wave of blue energy that struck one of the turbine engines, sending the jet spiraling out of control and back down towards the street to crash.

"Seth!" Cain gasped sharply and looked over the edge to try and see if the landing was controlled or not. She picked up on a vibrating noise though and quickly turned around just when a bolt of blue energy shot out from Loki's scepter and struck her square in the chest. "Ah!" she shrieked and tripped over the edge.

"No!" Thor shouted and tried to catch her but she disappeared completely from his sight until he looked over the edge. "Cain!"

Cain's body tumbled through the open air for a couple of seconds until she managed to spin back around at the right time and jam one of her hands straight into the glass panes that wrapped around the building. Her hand must've hooked onto a steel support bar though because she came to an abrupt halt and just dangled there, blood trickling down her arm with steam escaping from her fresh wounds.

Loki's face turned into a scowl when he realized she managed to save herself from the fall. "Monster of a woman... he spat out just when Thor turned around and tackled him.

* * *

They held on inside the quinjet as it slowly lost flight altitude while Barton tried to maneuver it safely to the ground so it wouldn't be so much of a rough landing. It slams into the streets and slides, breaking off chunks of cement as it came to a stop at long last. It wasn't so bad but the roughness sure made Seth's stomach turn into knots. She had to slap her hand over her mouth when she walked out of the open hatch.

"Seth, you, alright?" Steve came up behind her and set a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Ugh..." she mumbled at first before quickly composing herself to focus on the matter at hand. "Nothing I can't handle." Her eyes glanced up at Stark Tower and could make out Cain's body dangling off the side of the building. "Shit... Looks like Cain's having a hard time right now," she grumbled and looked back at Natasha and Barton getting out of the jet. "We gotta get back up there. Come on!" she rushed and all four of them began to run down the street as police sirens and screams rang in their ears.

It felt like the ground was starting rumbling below them as this deep growl met Seth's ears and made her stop dead still. Everyone halted and looked back at her, confused. They followed her horror-struck eyes though up towards the portal in the sky, now wishing their eyes were playing tricks on them. Out of the wormhole came a giant slug-like beast, floating through the sky as if it was swimming in water. It was a Leviathan of some sort with long fins that stretched wide and an unearthly howl that made Seth's heart drop. Never in her years could she dream up something like this, much less encounter one.

"What in the Seven Gates of Hell...is that?" Seth's face twisted up with horror, feeling like the Devil himself was now coming through the crack in space.

The creature flew over their heads while carrying Chitauri on it's back that leaped out and latched onto the buildings. Some crashed through the windows though and began to open fire at the innocent people trapped inside.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve called in.

Tony radioed back. "Seeing. Still working on believing. I saw Cain but what about Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?"

"Just keep me posted."

* * *

Cain struggled as she hung from the tower with her nails plunged into the thick steel bar. She groaned painfully and felt her wounds already healing by the amount of steam coming off her skin. She turned her body slightly and glanced out towards the Leviathan that flew through the city, using its long fins to cut deep into the buildings around it

"Jesus..." she muttered before quickly slamming her other hand into the tower and urgently began to climb back towards the balcony.

* * *

Thor grabbed Loki and forced him to look upon the fallen city that he claimed was meant to be his kingdom. The sight didn't even look grand anymore, just a warzone filled with dense smoke and the toxic smell of burned metal. "Look at this!" he shouted. "Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?" he tried to convince his brother one last time.

"It's too late," Loki breathed deeply, now sporting a subtle change in his once maddened eyes. "It's too late to stop it."

"No. We can. Together," Thor said hopefully. He thought for a moment that Loki had finally turned his eyes away from his insane dream...but that wasn't meant to be. Loki suddenly brought out a small knife and stabbed Thor in the side with it and made him groan in pain. He dropped his hammer and stumbled back, falling to his knees and holding his wound.

"Sentiment." Loki mocked him with a flat tone. He turned to leave his brother there but his foot suddenly hooked onto something and almost made him trip over. Loki looked over the edge to see what it was when his heart nearly stopped in his chest, seeing that it was Cain who grabbed him, somehow managing to scale all the way back up to them in a matter of minutes. "You..." Cain didn't allow him to finish his insult before yanking the god as hard as she could in the difficult position she was in. The scepter immediately slipped from his hands and he was flung off the side of the building. Cain watched him closely as he flipped through the air like a rag doll, only to land on a chariot of the Chitauri flying by.

"Lucky weasel..." Cain said through grit teeth and narrowed her eyes. She knew this wasn't over yet, not even remotely if her family still lived. She climbed back up to the balcony and saw Thor hunched over with a small knife still stuck in his side. "Thor?" She rushed up towards him and was quick to pull the knife out. She wasn't worried about it being life-threatening since Loki didn't hit any vital organs, and she believed that Norse Gods were tougher than they looked. "You alright?" She patted his shoulder.

Thor didn't even care remotely about himself and gently held the side of Cain's face to make sure she was safe, running his thumb against her cheek and trembling very slightly. "Are you?" he asked. Her wounds have already healed but her clothes were still stained with blood that came from the glass cutting into her arm. There was just so much of it that it made him grow pale. Any normal human would've died from blood loss by now.

Cain shuddered out a breath and smiled to ease his worry. "I always am." She still wasn't used to hearing someone talk so sweetly to her, so listening to his deep voice left her a little breathless and fidgety.

"Sister! " A familiar shrill voice cut deep into Cain's fragile heart and made her turn around at supersonic speed, just in time to see Abel land on the balcony beside them. Her face brightened up when she saw her elder sister again and gave her a signature warm but dazzling smile. "Sister!"

Cain didn't wait for a second longer and chose to save her words for later. She marched right up to Abel and trapped her in a bear-like embrace. "Oh, thank the heavens you're safe," she muttered as her sister hugged her back just as tightly. "You had me worried."

Abel laughed weakly. She couldn't tell who was shaking more. Her or Cain. It was nearly a close tie. "I find. I'm always fine. But have you seen Seth?" Abel pulled away but held tightly to her shoulders.

"She was in the strange aircraft that Loki shot down a couple of minutes ago," Thor answered her while reaching down to pick up his hammer.

"She's fine, Abel," Cain assured her. "The chaos is meddling with my hearing but I can still make out Seth's voice."

Abel breathed in deeply and dropped her head. "Thank goodness..." she murmured and began to feel her quivering stop.

"What about Dr. Banner? Is he safe?"

"Yes," Abel nodded. "He told me to go ahead and that he'll meet us here as soon as he can."

"Good. Good man." Cain patted her on the shoulder and both walked over close to the edge and down at the city. Their eyes saw many things and could make out every little detail that was happening. A million times over, chaos always looked and felt the same. There was always the thick smell of gunsmoke that followed the sounds of loud cries. "It's been quite the day so far, huh."

Abel bit down on her lips and nodded her head solemnly. "And it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon."

* * *

The four in the street were pinned down by the heavy amount of gunfire that came from the Chitauri's energy rifles. The shots were strong enough to punch a hole straight through the upside-down taxi they were hiding behind, ripping through it like a hot knife through butter. Seth already had the liberty of knowing what that felt like and was just waiting for the wound in her abdomen to heal. She ground down on her teeth and looked upwards, just in time to see Loki flying above them on a chariot with a band of Chitauri following.

Seth clicked her tongue and growled under her breath. "That little shit..." She turned around and noticed that civilians were still running around and diving for cover to avoid the danger. There weren't many hiding spots left though and being out in the open like this left a big target on everyone's back. "We're not doing so hot right now out here." She turned to Steve. "These people are gonna get themselves killed. Got any ideas?"

Steve found himself being torn in two different directions. He didn't know whether to keep going or stay here and defend the people. The local police didn't even know what was going on and were having little to no progress with their advances. "Those people need assistance down there."

"We got this," Natasha said. "It's good. You and Seth go!"

Captain America looked down at Barton. "You think you can hold them off?"

He looked at them with a smirk. "Captain," he pulled a trigger on his bow for one of his trick arrows to engage, "It would be my genuine pleasure." He whipped out an arrow and shot it at one of the Chitauri's, triggering the arrowhead to fire multiple darts upon impact.

Steve took the chance and got up from behind cover and signaled for Seth to take the lead. He looked over at her though and saw that she was smiling now as they ran down the streets with the hot blast of a fiery explosion right at their backs. Seth was thrilled since it been far too long since she's been in a genuine fight. She almost forgot how much she loved the feeling of adrenaline through her veins.

"You really picked a fine time to start having fun," Steve called out behind her and kept up fairly well with her speed. He saw her laugh so much that it only brightened the vibrant smile on her face.

"You kidding? I only ever fought against humans and now I have to fight aliens?" She said and looked over her shoulder. With her smile spreading wide across her thin lips, the blue hue in her eyes sparkled like an innocent and free-spirited child. "Sorry to break it to you but this is freakin' cool!"

Steve was a bit taken back but didn't know if she was insane or not for thinking that way. He couldn't help himself though and smiled back at her as she beamed.

* * *

The Manhattan police force shot their guns desperately in the air as chariot riders flew overhead, totally unfazed by their bullets. This was going nowhere and they were making no leeway. Not to mention they weren't entirely sure what they were fighting anymore.

A young cop ran up to his sergeant. "It's going to be an hour before they can scramble the National Guard!" he shouted over the consistent sound of gunfire.

"National Guard?" They ducked out of the way from a shot that flew over their head and caused an explosion a few feet away. "Does the army know what's happening here?"

"Do we?"

They both jumped simultaneously when two figures landed on the car to their right. They were dumbfounded to see that it was a ridiculously dressed man in a blue suit and a young girl who barely looked to be in her 20's.

Steve immediately started to give out orders and gestured around him. "I need men in these buildings. There are people inside that can run into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or through the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" the sergeant snapped back.

There was a sudden burst from behind and they all quickly snapped their head around, seeing a trail of explosions getting closer as a chariot rider dove dangerously low, almost like he was about to kamikaze right into them. Most of the police force jumped for cover but Steve only stood up and coolly handed his shield over to Seth.

"Think you can hit them with enough force?" he asked, smirking when he heard her scoff at the remark.

Seth flipped the lightweight shield in her hand and nodded her head. "Yeah, just get back." She jumped down from the car and began to take aim, turning her body fully to the side and holding the shield back like she was going to throw it. Her eyes focused intensely on the chariot rider and waited for what seemed like the last possible second before swinging her arm forward. She chucked the shield so hard that it made a loud bursting sound when it left her hand and struck hard against the rider, immediately making it lose control and crashing right beside the police force, nearly missing them. They watched in awe and stunned silence as the petite girl walked over to the twitching but dying chariot rider and roughly yanked the shield out from its chest.

It only took the sergeant a few seconds to understand what happened before turning to his men. "I need men in those buildings, lead the people down and away from the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

Seth snickered and flung the black-ish red blood off the shield before handing it over to Steve. "That was easy," she said with a satisfied smile.

"Yeah, well...guess you just leave a lasting impression on people," Steve smiled lightly and placed his weapon back on his arm. "Come on, we still got a lot to do." He gestured back in the direction they left Natasha and Barton at and headed down that way to regroup.

* * *

Tony flew around a building and came face-to-face with the Leviathan and its gnarly teeth that unhinged wide. He launched some flares at the creature's face and it gave a high-pitched shriek, turning around sharply and using its giant fins to slice through the buildings around it.

"Well...we got his attention. What the hell was step two?" Tony set his thrusters to maximum speed and retreated with the space creature following close behind.

* * *

It was obvious to Seth that Natasha and Barton were growing exhausted with the constant onslaught of creatures they were faced against, not giving anyone time to breathe much less slow down. It was prevalent at this point that the normal humans would tire first before this war could end. If that was even possible anymore. Seth knew that this was going to become endless if the portal remained active with hundreds more Chitauri seeping through it every second.

A blast of lightning struck down in front of them and took out the last few stragglers of the swarm. A moment later, Thor, Cain, and Abel touched down from Stark Tower and landed in the streets with a hard thump. The girls looked relatively find but Thor staggered a bit because of the knife wound in his side.

Seth looked at her two sisters and laughed at their appearance and how wild it had become in such a short amount of time. Their hair was tangled and their clothes were torn. It hadn't even been an hour yet and they looked worse than she did. "You two look freaking awful," she chuckled.

Cain scoffed but look down at herself for a brief moment and saw that Seth was telling the truth. "When had the world ever been kind to us," she said jokingly.

"Never." Seth smiled before getting abruptly tackled by Abel rushing over to her and wrapping her tightly in a hug. Seth was stunned at first and didn't know whether to hug back or shake her sister off. She wasn't able to do anything though when Cain followed Abel's example and hugged her too, sandwiching their little sister between them. "I get it, I get it. You don't have to suffocate me." Seth said with a voice muffled by Abel's shirt.

Steve let the immortal family have their moment and turned to Thor. "What's the story upstairs?"

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor answered.

Tony called in to confirm this. "Thor's right. We gotta deal with these guys."

Seth managed to wiggle herself from her family's death grip. "Any ideas? How do we do this?"

"As a team," Steve said but Thor cut in.

"I Have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said.

"Yeah?" Barton eyed him while fiddling with his arrowheads. "Well get in line," he said dryly.

"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need..." His words soon fell short when they heard the sputtering sound of an old motor behind them. They all turned around and finally saw Dr. Banner riding onto the scene with a small but old motorcycle.

Abel grinned brightly and jogged up to him. "Dr. Banner. You actually made it."

Banner got off the bike and shrugged half-heartedly. "Well...I did say I'd meet you here." He looked around briefly at what he had just walked into. "So, this all seems horrible."

"Seen worse," Seth said bluntly while casting her eyes over to Cain.

Banner looked at the family of three and apologized since it was his fault that they got separated. "Sorry."

Cain held her hand out to stop him while elbowing Seth in the side to shut her up "She...she wasn't talking about you," she said, "but your version of worse is exactly what we need."

Steve quickly called Tony and informed him that both Cain and Banner had arrived. "Stark. We got them."

"Cain and Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"Then tell them to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." They turned to the sound of crashing and saw Tony cut hard around the corner of a building with the Leviathan following directly behind. Its large body started to scrape low against the ground as it flew towards them and didn't have any indication of stopping.

Cain slowly cranked her head over to Abel with a judging look in her eyes that she shied away from. "That's not my version of a party but whatever." She said dryly and began to walk towards the large alien creature. She cracked her knuckles but noticed that Banner wasn't changing shape, much less to any shade of green. "Dr. Banner, maybe it would be a good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Cain," Banner said while walking beside the immortal lady. They both stopped though as the creature quickly began to close the space between them. "I'm always angry."

Cain blinked, staring at him with a baffled look in her old eyes before laughing. "I know the feeling."

Cain and Banner turned around and in a swift motion, Banner's body began to swell in size while his skin turned a dark shade of familiar yet terrifying green. They clenched their fists tightly and slammed it against the nose of the Leviathan while both, immortal and monster, let out this victorious and ear-piercing scream that made the whole city vibrate. The backside of the Leviathan started to flip up from the sudden stop but also caused the armor to peel away, exposing a soft spot of flesh underneath.

"Hold on!" Tony saw the chance he was looking for and shot a miniature missile at the spot and detonated the creature in a fury of flame and meat. Everyone shielded themselves from the falling debris while Abel used her own body to cover Seth's.

The Chitauri army stopped what they were doing before howling viciously at the team who stood against them. Their shouts were overpowered though by the Hulk's powerful roar that could make bones rattle and souls leave their bodies. The Avengers tightened up their formation and prepared themselves with weapons in hand and confidence in heart, now ready for anything.


End file.
